Recently, a friend of mine visited someone at St. Vincent's Hospital in Manhattan. They walked through the revolving door of an auxiliary patient building, clearly passing by a sign which stated that all visitors must obtain a visitor's pass from the front desk which was several yards from the door. After going through the door, they turned towards the elevator bank. The person at the front desk was chatting with another worker and did not stop them at all. After the person arrived at the patient's floor, they proceeded into the patient wing. Another sign, posted at a sliding door before the rooms and next to a nurses' station, stated that all visitors must check-in with the nurses' station. The visitor passed through the doors and proceeded directly into their friend's room without being questioned by the nurses at the station. When they left the hospital through the same lobby, they witnessed other visitors coming in who were also not stopped by the front desk and/or security.
Clearly, this is an extremely dangerous situation. If we cannot even secure our hospitals, a place for the sick, how can we say that we are safer after spending billions of dollars shoring up our airports? We maybe preventing terrorists from hijacking another plane, but if our hospitals can even be compromised by regular criminals, there could be a tremendous loss of life and if terrorists get a hold of a health treatment facility, one less place for the ill to get treated.
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