Infant
Security News
Dedicated to Preventing Infant Abductions & Mother /
Baby Mix-ups
|
Security
Assessments International 2405 Safety,
Security & Risk Management Consultants |
Routing: [ ] Facility Services [ ] Security Management [ ] Nursing Administration [ ] Risk Management
VOLUME II NUMBER II April, 2004
“Infant
Security News” is SAI’s quarterly newsletter dedicated to helping hospitals
provide protection for their youngest patients.
Each edition of this free newsletter will feature current infant
security events in the news, and each issue we’ll analyze an actual infant
abduction case. Cases will be analyzed
to determine how security was defeated and recommended preventive measures.
Three recent hospital infant abductions could
have been prevented by parental education.
Despite heightened awareness, babies continue to be kidnapped from
hospitals. We find that most babies are
taken from the mother’s room when the mother unknowingly hands her baby to someone
pretending to be a care giver. A
would-be abductor has a better chance of kidnapping a baby from a mother who
has not received infant security parental education. In fact, the three recent infant abductions from US
hospitals could all have been prevented if the mothers had followed the
advice provided in "Infant
Security: How Parents Can Help” – a new SAI publication for
healthcare professionals to share with new mothers. Mother’s are the first line of defense. In order for a new mom to recognize and
thwart the plans of a would-be abductor during her hospital stay and after
returning home, she needs to be educated on the psychological profile and modus
operandi (MO) of the typical abductor, and what she can do to keep her baby
safe.
Why Hospitals are Targets
Beside churches, hospitals are the other
institutions in our society that have always been considered sacred, at least
as far back as I can remember. During my
youth it was inconceivable that anyone would violate the sanctity of a hospital
and commit a crime, much less steal a baby.
Unfortunately, hospitals are no longer immune from criminal
assault. Crime continues to find its way
into our hospitals at an alarming rate.
Why does this happen? Well, for
one thing, hospitals are institutions of tradition, and historically, have
resisted becoming bastions of security.
The emphasis has always been on providing an open and friendly access to
the public.
Part rt of a hospital’s image has been to maintain this
open door policy for anyone that wanted to come to visit a sick family member
or love-one. Heck, I remember when
people use to go to the hospital just to see the babies. There was nothing unusual at all about being
on the baby floor. As crime continues to
grow in this country, we find we are not safe in our businesses, or our schools,
or even in our own homes. All of these
places have become targets of criminal assault, and as a result, we have been
forced to increase security in every facet of our public and private life, all
of this in an effort to keep crime away.
Most hospitals have been slow to follow suit. Even today, many hospitals still have the same
open door policy they have practiced for decades.
Hospitals are targets
because they are open to the public 24 hours a day, seven days a week. These public access facilities have been
conditioned over the years to allow scores of people from all walks of life to
enter their institutions unchallenged, day or night. The definition of “Public Access” means that
all persons that enter a hospital seeking treatment, or to visit a love-one,
have the right to come and go as they please…and for many facilities, this is
still the practice. This mind-set does not take into consideration that there
are people in our society that hold not institution sacred and there sole reason
to enter a hospital is to commit a crime against a person, the hospital, or
both.
Unfortunately because of the continuing criminal threat against
hospitals, it’s no longer possible to practice an open door policy.
For a hospital to be safe
in today’s world, everyone coming into and going out of the hospital has to be
identified and controlled. This is
essential to prevent unauthorized persons from entering a hospital to cause
harm. Security protection has been
extremely difficult in the past because of unrealistic and misinterpreted fire
codes. Strict enforcement of fire codes
have prevented hospitals from securing fire doors that lead to the
outside. An unsecured fire door, leading
to the outside, provides an escape route for anyone that come into the hospital
for the purpose of committing a criminal act against the hospital.
After what seems forever,
old fire codes are now being replaced with new codes that will allow fire exits
to be locked and alarmed by a time delay lock and alarm system. This “Lockdown”
capability can prevent unauthorized persons from entering or leaving the hospital
undetected.
Another significant
problem with providing security for older hospitals is the inherently poor
design which makes it difficult to secure.
Traditionally hospitals have been designed for patient and family
convenience. Security was never taken
into consideration during the construction and design phase. Because of this inherent problem, providing
protection after the fact is a security nightmare, not to mention an
unbelievable expensive to the hospital.
Where do you suppose a
cash-strapped hospital, faced with the choice between purchasing an expensive
infant electronic tagging system, or a much-needed piece of medical equipment,
is going to spend their money? Unless
they have just had a baby abducted or are being sued for negligent security, I
think it’s safe to say where the money will go.
Hospitals are being faced with enormous downsizing as a result of
“Managed Care”, or should I say “Mismanaged Care”?
CASE STUDY #1005
Hospital Abduction (Mother’s Room)
Type of
Facility:
Victim Mother: Age 21
Victim Father: Age
20
Victim Baby: Age
3 Day Old Male
Abductor/Suspect: Age 39
Profile/MO: Told family members she was
pregnant
Told
police she was in the room next to the baby and thought it was hers
Gave family members two different
due dates
Police
believe she took the child to replace a lost child
Impersonated
a nurse by wearing a scrub smock
Dressed in a blue scrub suit and pretending to be a
unit nurse, a 39 year old female entered the victim mother’s room using the
ruse she needed to take the mother’s baby to have it circumcised. The alleged abductor placed the 3 day old
infant in the infant’s bassinet and left the mother’s room where she immediately
removed the infant from its bassinet and arm carried him toward the
elevator. Before the alleged abductor
could reach the elevator, she was challenged by a unit nurse, who became
suspicious, when she noticed the infant being arm-carried, which is against
unit policy. When confronted, the
alleged abductor told the nurse she was the baby’s aunt and answered all the
nurse’s questions correctly. According
to newspaper reports, the alleged abductor exited the mother/baby unit via an
elevator, after she was escorted back towards the mother’s room by the
suspicious nurse. When the nurse turned
and walked away. The alleged abductor
quickly exited via the elevator. The
victim mother became suspicious when her baby was not immediately returned and
sent the father to look for the infant.
The father found the baby’s empty bassinet located near the
elevator. He alerted hospital employees
and a “Code Pink” Alarm was sounded. An
alert hospital security officer identified the direction of travel of the
alleged abductor and followed her to a grocery store, where she was detained
until police arrived. She was taken into
custody and told police she just wanted a baby.
The alleged abductor was arrested on suspicion of
child kidnapping as well as an outstanding $10,000 warrant for failure to
appear on an earlier charge. According
to a relative, the alleged abductor has two grown children.
According to the victim parents, the alleged abductor
was wearing a home made security badge with a blue stripe instead of the
hospital ID that displayed a pink strip.
According to the “Salt Lake Tribune”, the hospital or police would not
confirm if whether or not the alleged abductor was wearing an ID badge.
Contributing Factors / Vulnerabilities (change
from case to case)
|
·
Impersonated a nurse wearing scrubs |
·
Alleged abductor faked pregnancy |
|
·
|
·
Limited parental education |
|
·
Elaborate
plan formulated by abductor |
·
No controlled access to mother/baby unit |
|
·
Alleged Abductor lied to family and friends |
·
Elevator not equipped with controlled access |
|
·
Alleged
Abductor lied to police |
·
Alleged abductor fit classic profile |
Preventive Measures (vary from facility to facility)
1.
Introduce
the mother to her primary care nurse at the beginning of each shift.
2.
Explain all
security procedures for the unit to the mother as soon as she is in the room.
3.
Instruct the
mother that she will be notified in advance of any scheduled test or procedures
and she is to call
the nurses
station if anyone, unfamiliar, insist on taking her baby.
4.
Instruct the
mother to never to leave her baby unsupervised or out of her sight, even to go
to the bathroom or take a
nap.
5.
Instruct the
mother NEVER to give her baby to anyone that is not wearing a hospital photo ID
badge with
the
picture facing forward and displaying the hospital logo.
6.
Instruct the
mother to only transport her baby by bassinet and never to arm carry her baby
when
transporting
the child from one location to another.
7.
Instruct the
mother to never give out personal information about her or her baby to anyone
over the phone or in person to anyone
that is not a family member of close acquaintance.
Preventive Measure for Moms after leaving the Hospital
1.
Instruct
mothers when they go home not to allow anyone in the home without the proper
photo identification.
2.
Recommend
that outside decorations (balloons, ribbons, wooden storks, etc.), are not
displayed.
3.
Recommend
that parents do not place their baby’s birth announcement in the
newspaper.
4.
Instruct
parents to never leave their baby unattended when they are away from home.
5.
Instruct
parents never to give out any information to casual acquaintances or strangers,
i.e., phone numbers, addresses,
etc.
NOTE: Consult with a Healthcare Security
Professional with expertise in infant and pediatric security to assist you and
your staff in developing the most effective and cost efficient security program
for your facility. In most cases, a
security professional can save the hospital considerably more money than would
be spent on the consultant’s fee.
Disclaimer: The baby’s mother is the first line of
defense and has the primary responsibility to protect her newborn, not only
during her hospital stay, but after discharge from the hospital. The kidnapper’s profile and methods of
operation listed, may, or may not, fit the profile of all kidnappers, and
methods of operation of the kidnapper may be different than listed here.
SAI would be pleased to provide your hospital
with our educational pamphlet "How Parents Can Help" free of charge. It
was written specifically for hospitals to share with mothers-to-be and their
families, and also to meet JCAHO requirements. Hospitals can edit
the pamphlet's introductory page to suit their needs. They
can create a custom greeting written from the hospital to new
mothers, and they can add their logo or the logo of their healthcare
affiliation. The pamphlet’s contents can rearranged as needed
to fit a desired format for printing or reproduction. SAI
also stands ready to assist hospital staff on how to use the pamphlet
effectively.
Pamphlet Topics Include:
|
·
The
psychological profile of the abductor |
·
The
Modus Operandi (MO) of the abductor |
|
·
Never
to leave her baby alone at any time |
·
How
the hospital will keep your baby safe |
|
·
Hospital
security routines |
·
Hospital
I.D. Procedures |
|
·
The
correct way to transport a baby in the hospital |
·
How
to protect personal information |
|
·
How
to provide protection after mother and baby leave the hospital |
·
Procedures
for home visit (If applicable) |
|
·
Risk
of Birth Announcements |
·
Risk
of Outside Decorations |
|
·
Sharing
Information with Loved-ones and family members |
|
Instructions to the Mother Include:
·
Be
suspicious of casual acquaintances or strangers that attempt to befriend you
·
Learn
hospital procedures for care after discharge
·
Demand
positive I.D. before allowing persons in your home that seem official
·
Be
aware of strangers that come to your door to see your baby
·
Under
no circumstances should you give you baby to a stranger
·
Do not
allow casual acquaintances or strangers to baby-sit your baby
·
Never
leave you baby alone at home
·
Do not
place birth announcements in the newspaper
·
Do not
give out information about you and your baby over the phone or to strangers
·
Educate
family members and friends that baby-sit your baby on infant security
·
Call
police anytime you are suspicious or concerned about your baby’s safety
Note: For the past 20 years Jeff Aldridge, author of “How Parents Can Help”,
has been on a 'mission' to help hospitals prevent infant
abductions and mother / baby mix-ups. Jeff is an internationally
recognized healthcare security expert and has worked with Fortune 500 Companies
in their design and development of state-of-the-art security products for the
healthcare industry. He has assisted
over 600 hospitals and birthing centers in the
INFANT ABDUCTIONS IN THE NEWS
Baby taken
from Kentucky Hospital - Police in
Baby
taken from LDS Hospital - But infant boy is quickly and safely restored to his
parents -
A woman who police say was Alarid
flashed what looked like a hospital ID card at Tina Marie Archuleta, 21, and
said she needed to take baby Zackaria, who had been
born Sunday. She left with the baby and
abandoned his bassinet by the elevator.
Possible Kidnap Motive -
"Detectives allege Alarid's motivation was
to steal and take care of a baby as her own -- perhaps, as relatives suggest, to replace a lost child. It's a familiar scenario,
says security expert Jeff Aldridge.
He says the average newborn abductor is a woman, who pretends to be a hospital
employee, and takes the baby directly from the mother in the mother's room.
Aldridge runs Durham, NC-based Security Assessments International, which
focuses on child(sic) infant abductions in
hospitals."
A baby abducted from Empangeni
Hospital on Friday has been reunited with his mother – “'I'll
never let him out of my sight again,” mother says. Police have arrested a 31-year-old-woman in
connection with
the abduction.
On-line resources
Infant Security: “How
Parents Can Help”
http://www.saione.com/ispletter.htm
Birthing
Center Assessment Outline (Sample)
http://www.saione.com/sampleassessment.htm
Vulnerability
Assessments
http://www.saione.com/services_vulnerability.htm
Future Newsletter Topics
Hospital Liability “When to hire a
Security Expert”
Components
of a “Self-Assessment”
How
to conduct a successful “Code Pink”
Educating
Employees and Staff
“Pros
& Cons of an Infant Protection System”
Fallacy
of Foot Printing – are they a "thing of the past?”
Mother/Baby
Mix-ups “How to Prevent the Unthinkable”
How
to select an Infant Security System
Disclaimer
Advice given in this
"Newsletter" is general in nature, and subscribers (readers of this
material) should consult with professional counsel for specific legal, ethical,
or clinical advice. The information provided in the SAI
Newsletters is for educational purposes only and should not be
considered 'legal' advice. Websites listed are for reference only
and are provided for subscribers (readers of the material) to have an
opportunity to read the original documents in total. Please consult your
legal counsel or Compliance Officer for clarification of laws and rules related
to your State when applicable.
SAI is not affiliated with the Joint Commission
on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations.
SAI - ©April, 2004