title: Center takes hard line with press. The missing infant incident at Columbia Trident Medical Center.
abstract: When the body of a stillborn infant went missing from the Columbia Trident morgue, the press pounced. The hospital was accused of everything from neglect to a police-protected cover-up. Reporters stopped patients in the parking lot to ask them if they felt safe. Others used the incident to question Columbia's proposed merger with the local university medical center. In response, Columbia Trident initiated a strict policy that prohibits the press from showing up unannounced and stridently protects the rights of patients and employees. The case provokes questions about the role of public relations professionals in an age of sensationalism. When is withholding information justified and when is it an obstruction of justified inquiry? How far is too far for the press?
authors.forename: P L
authors.initials: PL
authors.lastname: Moore
mesh_terms: D002102:Cadaver; D005313:Fetal Death; D006744:Hospital Bed Capacity, 100 to 299; D006785:Hospitals, University / Q000592:standards*; D006801:Humans; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D009035:Mothers / Q000523:psychology; D016134:Organizational Policy; D010344:Patient Advocacy; D016495:Police; D011641:Public Relations; D013022:South Carolina