Publications & Resources

Code Black: Hospitals as Terrorist Targets
By Carey Pelto, M.D.

The ability of the U.S. healthcare system to respond to a large terrorist attack has been analyzed extensively since 9/11, and reports have not been positive.

Our national emergency medical system is strained to the breaking point. In numerous urban emergency departments (EDs), overcrowding issues like boarding, rising patient volumes, and long wait times are common.

Each year, the national volume of emergency patients increases, yet emergency departments continue to close due to decreased funding and increasing expenses.

According to a recent Center for Disease Control (CDC) report, during the decade ending in 2006, the number of ED patient visits rose 32% in the United States- yet the number of EDs dropped by 4.6%. A May, 2008 House oversight committee report studied 34 hospitals in seven major cities and concluded that U.S. hospital ED's are overwhelmed- and most are not prepared to deal with the surge of patients that would result from a major terrorist attack.

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