Healthcare in Crisis: Stun Gun Used in Medical Facility

Suffering from depression, mental illness, and feeling general despair in the modern day healthcare crises that so many people are experiencing may mean that educating health professionals in the need for and training them to use of non-lethal self defense tactics and tools is a very real need.

Late last night, police officers used a stun gun on an assailant who was threatening medical staff with a syringe at a British medical facility. Police used the Taser to subdue the 37-year-old man, who also warned that he would stab himself in the throat with the syringe, in the Accident and Emergency Unit of Royal Preston Hospital.

Hospital staff alerted the police at approximately 11:20 pm and law enforcement officers were forced to use a Taser stun gun on the man after their attempts to negotiate with and settle him down were unsuccessful. The assailant quickly recovered from the stun and was placed under arrested on public order offenses and taken into police custody. Officials from both the hospital and police departments believe that the quick actions of the officers and use of the Taser allowed them to prevent the man from causing injury or death to either the medical staff or himself.

Some people believe that it’s unreasonable to expect that every doctor, nurse, and hospital employee be armed with a stun gun or other self-defense tool for use in these types of incidents, however in today’s current healthcare climate we must all carefully weigh the risks and rewards of being adequately prepared to fully protect human life at all times.