VT Hospitals in Jeopardy Over Use of Cops for Security
Burlington Vermont Jan 25 2020 Vermont is a surprising case study in how things can quickly go wrong when hospitals invite police inside to serve as security officers, Vice reports.
At least nine of Vermont’s 14 emergency rooms, including six of its eight hospitals serving rural populations, have been cited by national regulators over the past five years for improperly calling police to help with mental health patients.
When hospitals don’t set clear boundaries with police, hospitals can get in trouble with national regulators. Hospitals with multiple bad reports risk losing funding and certification from national and state governments.
Vermont’s Department of Mental Health noted in a report last April that federal requirements mandate only hospital staff are permitted to handle patients in psychiatric care.
Outside contractors, like private security officers, need to be trained and “under the supervision” of hospital staff when handling patients.
And police officers “cannot lay hands on an individual who is committing (or has committed) a crime in the emergency department unless they are going to arrest and remove the individual,” the report said.
But those standards have been ignored in Vermont hospitals in recent years.
One 2016 hospital report describes how a patient seeking treatment for anxiety, depression and suicidal thoughts was tackled by police with an “arm-bar take down”; the officers then handcuffed the patient’s arm to a bed.
Five officers were called in 2018 to intimidate a patient who was refusing to accept medication for their bipolar disorder.
And in two different hospitals last fall, county sheriffs called by staff Tasered two separate patients seeking treatment for mental health issues, neither of whom were in police custody at the time.
Only five hospitals nationally were cited in 2018 for the improper use of Tasers; the two in Vermont were the only ones outside major urban areas.
The Crime Report
