Dateline: March 25, 2016 – New Orleans, Louisiana
A local Doctor was shot and killed by a patient while he treated others in his office near East Jefferson General Hospital in New Orleans yesterday.
The 73-year old shooter walked into the doctor’s office, and killed the doctor with a single shot to the head. He then ran out of the office and into a Wendy’s restaurant. Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office deputies were nearby and they responded and chased the shooter into a nearby Wendy’s restaurant, where the shooter killed himself by putting the gun in his mouth and pulling the trigger.
The doctor, 75-year old Dr. Elbert Goodier, a urologist, was treating patients at the time of the shooting. Colleagues said that Dr. Goodier was a very kind and popular physician. The shooter’s family said that the shooter had been treated by Dr. Goodier in the past. While the shooter did not have a criminal background, his family said that he had suffered from mental illness in the past.
Dr. Goodier had practiced for 50 years in the New Orleans area, according to East Jefferson General Hospital.
According to Wendy’s employees, a woman was placing her order when
the shooter pulled the trigge
r as the deputies advanced on him. The man’s body remained inside of Wendy’s more than an hour after the shootings. Yellow police tape cordoned off the parking lot and the hospital’s exit lanes. Some workers and patrons were also still in the building as of 4 p.m., speaking with
investigators. Outside, other workers, concerned relatives and onlookers watched.
This type of shooting, the Baby Boomer Shooter, is the second attack on a urologist, and one in an increasing number of seniors who attack their physicians. Another shooter killed his urologist in Reno, Nevada and injured two others before taking his own life. The shooter said had struggled for 3 years with ailments resulting from a botched vasectomy, according to messages he posted on an online support group and a law enforcement investigation.
Lesson Learned :
While doctors have not been a target in the past, they have been shot and killed recently by patients unhappy with medical results. All hospitals and medical offices should review their access controls systems, based on the increasing, and alarming rate of attacks on healthcare workers.
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