Emergency department security: a call for reassessment.

Numerous articles tell of the security breaches hospital emergency rooms face on a daily basis. The recent events of September 11 th have further complicated these breaches, and have shed new light on previously ignored issues surrounding bioterrorism. In previous disaster scenarios there has been a "script" to follow; however bioterrorism follows no script and presents a host of new security issues. Successful delineation of the characteristics of bioterrorist weapons is only the first step in dealing with such a scenario, and will set into motion a series of events seen only on small levels in the past.