Terrorists or business rivals? You decide
Medical facilities report visits by fake inspectors; some believe terrorism involved; industrial espionage seems more likely motive
When reporting about homeland security, it is important not to go off track. It is too easy in these uncertain times to ascribe every threat and circumstance to terrorism while other, pre-9/11 threats still remain. This is why we were amused by an article in this month’s Security Management headlined “Hospital Imposters.” It so happens that a number of hospitals in Los Angeles, Boston, Detroit, and elsewhere have received visitors claiming to be performing random inspections on behalf of the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO). Naturally, the staffs jumped to attention, with managers diligently attending to the guests’ every wish and desire. Later calls to JCAHO, however, revealed that no inspections had been planned or authorized, leaving everyone wondering whom the mystery guests were.
Well, not everyone. “The fear is that the imposters are terrorists scouting hospitals for vulnerabilities,” writes Security Management, summarizing the views of Fred Roll, president of the International Association for Healthcare Security and Safety. We have no reason to doubt Mr. Roll’s authority, but perhaps among his security duties he overzealously banished Occam’s razor from his offices. After all, is it probable that gangs of terrorists would be traveling around the country just to case surgical suites? Much more likely, we think, this was a case of industrial espionage. It is true that many of the 9/11 hijackers were educated men, but only someone with a high level of knowledge about the hospital business would be able to pull of such a daring venture, and this seems beyond the ken of even the most devious of Al Qaeda’s ranks. Rival hospital groups, however, would find this task easy, and would have much more to gain.
Despite giving the story prominent cover space, even Security Management seems a bit skeptical: “There is no hard evidence that terrorists were involved in this scheme,” the reporter admits. No evidence whatsoever it seems.
-read more about hospital imposters in this Medlaw.com report
