Originally Posted by Mats
...Emergency Departments CAN be dangerous places, so I won't get into a debate about the utility of security screening. But I firmly believe that the patient's airway, breathing, and circulation (the "ABC's" of trauma) deserve attention above security measures....
Just curious; if you were an attending at this hospital, I think you would have had the right to tell the security guard to get out of the way and leave the patient alone, especially if you were admitting him. I know at the hospital where my SO is a resident, if a staff member pisses off an attending (security guard included), they are out the door fast enough to cause a sonic boom.
Patient health and physician discretion should come first. I doubt a little old man with chest pains is going to suddenly morph into a wild killer upon entering the hospital, so common sense should have prevailed here.