Negligent Hospital Security Expert Witness
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Don’t leave your case to uncertainty. Work with a Negligent Hospital Security Expert Witness who delivers clarity, credibility, and results.
Negligent Hospital Security Expert Witness
Trusted Expert Testimony for Hospital Security Negligence Cases
We assist with cases involving:
Patient Restraint • Security Use of Force • Behavioral Health • Elopement • Emergency Department Security • De-escalation • Workplace Violence Incidents • Security Staffing & Training.
Mr. Lang was a past Senior Director of Security Operations for Orlando Health provided executive leadership for security operations across a regional healthcare system consisting of 10 hospitals, more than 375 outpatient facilities, over 3,100 licensed beds, more than 25,000 team members, and an annual operating budget of approximately $5.6 billion. Ensure that the development and security strategy aligns with the organization's established goals and objectives. Mitigate operational risks and enhance security by compiling, reviewing, and summarizing federal, state, and local regulations. Assist management by providing sound legal and regulatory advice, assistance, and information during critical moments. Mr. Lang has earned the Certified Hospital Protection Administrator (CHPA) From the International Association for Healthcare Security and Safety (IAHSS)
Mr. Lang was also the security manager for a 800-bed Level One Trauma Center located in downtown Orlando, The Orlando Regional Medical Center (ORMC) Lang supervised
overall campus security while managing all aspects of the security command. Involved in workforce allocation, budgeting, training, and hiring to achieve desired results and enhance business efficiency by obtaining a Security Program of Distinction from the International Association for Healthcare Security and Safety. Mr. Lang conducted various administrative activities, including providing direction, managing and guiding staff, and designing policies and procedures to meet our goals. Committed to supporting the HR department by screening, interviewing, recruiting, and scheduling employees, Mr. Lang managed hospital security during the Pulse Nightclub mass casualty incident and COVID
Expert Support You Can Rely On
Hospitals have a duty to ensure a safe environment for patients, staff, and visitors. When that duty is breached—whether through poor security measures, lack of monitoring, or inadequate response—the consequences can be severe. Our role is to uncover those failures and present
clear, defensible findings that make an impact in legal proceedings.
What We Provide
✔ Comprehensive review of hospital security systems & policies
✔ In-depth analysis of negligence and security failures
✔ Evaluation of surveillance, staffing, and access control
✔ Detailed expert witness reports for litigation
✔ Deposition and courtroom testimony
Cases We Handle
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Hospital workplace violence
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Patient elopement
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Patient restraints
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Inadequate staffing
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Weapons Screening
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Psychiatry and Patients without capacity.
10 Hospital Security Failures That Lead to Negligent Security Lawsuits
Hospitals owe a duty of care to patients, visitors, and staff, and healthcare security is governed by published standards from IAHSS, The Joint Commission, CMS, OSHA, and AHCA. When a facility departs from those standards and someone is harmed, these are the ten failures that most often appear in the record.
1. Unsecured or Unmonitored Entry Points
Access control failures are the most common finding in hospital security litigation. Loading docks propped open, ground-floor stairwell doors that do not latch, after-hours entrances left unlocked, and lobby doors with no staffed or monitored control point allow unauthorized entry into clinical areas. IAHSS design guidelines address perimeter and entry control directly, which makes departure from them straightforward to demonstrate.
2. Inadequate Observation of Behavioral Health Patients
Behavioral health observation failures produce some of the most severe hospital security claims. Cases involve patients under ordered continuous observation who were left unwatched, sitters pulled to cover other assignments, monitoring documented but not performed, and ligature risks in rooms designated for psychiatric holds.
3. Missing or Untested Infant Abduction Controls
Infant security failures are catastrophic and entirely preventable with standard controls. Expected measures include electronic infant tagging tied to unit egress, banding and matching protocols, controlled access to maternity and NICU units, staff identification requirements for anyone transporting an infant, and regularly drilled abduction response. Facilities that own the technology but never test the response are a recurring fact pattern.
4. Emergency Department Weapons Screening Gaps
The emergency department is the highest-risk area in most hospitals, and screening is frequently the weak point. Analysis examines whether weapons detection was in place, whether it operated during all hours the ED was open, whether staff were trained to use it, and whether a documented risk assessment supported the decision not to screen. An ED that screens only on day shift is difficult to defend after a night-shift shooting.
5. Understaffed, Undertrained, or Unlicensed Security Officers
Security staffing failures show up in the schedule, logs, and payroll. Experts compare authorized posts to hours actually worked, review IAHSS Basic Officer training completion, verify state licensure when mandated, and examine whether officers received training specific to healthcare — de-escalation, restraint assistance, patient rights, and EMTALA constraints. Generic guard training is not healthcare security training.
6. Cameras That Were Recorded but Never Monitored
Recording is not surveillance. Many hospitals install extensive camera coverage with no one watching live, no monitoring post, no alarm integration, and no retention policy that survives a litigation hold. Cases regularly involve cameras that covered the incident location but had been offline for weeks, or footage that was overwritten before counsel requested it. Both are findings a security expert will document.
7. Failure to Reassess Risk After Prior Incidents
A prior incident that produced no change to the security program is direct evidence of unreasonable care. Healthcare security standards contemplate ongoing risk assessment, and The Joint Commission's Environment of Care framework requires facilities to evaluate and respond to identified risks. An assault in a parking garage followed by no lighting survey, no camera addition, and no patrol change establishes notice without action.
8. No Functioning Workplace Violence Prevention Program
Workplace violence prevention is now an accreditation requirement, not a best practice. Joint Commission standards require hospitals to maintain a workplace violence prevention program including a defined leadership structure, worksite analysis, reporting systems, staff training, and post-incident follow-up. Programs that exist on paper but have no reporting data, no training records, and no evidence of committee activity are readily distinguished from real ones.
9. Departure From the Hospital's Own Written Security Policy
A facility's own policy manual is the standard it chose for itself. When post orders require a security escort to the parking garage after 2200 hours and no escort program actually operated, or when a behavioral health policy requires a security presence at every restraint and staffing made that impossible, the hospital's own documents establish the breach. This is often the cleanest liability evidence in the file.
10. Inadequate Parking Garage and Campus Perimeter Security
A substantial share of hospital assault claims occur outside the building. Analysis covers garage lighting levels and uniformity, stairwell and elevator lobby visibility, emergency call station placement and functionality, camera coverage of vehicle and pedestrian routes, patrol frequency in outlying lots, and whether an escort service was advertised to staff and actually available on the shift in question.
