The cardiovascular surgeon who was targeted by a shooter Tuesday at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston has died, according to a Boston Globe report.
Michael Davidson, MD, was shot by Stephen Pasceri shortly after 11 a.m. Tuesday. Mr. Pasceri reportedly walked into the hospital, requested Dr. Davidson, and fired two shots from a .40-caliber pistol when the surgeon met him in an exam room in the Carl J. and Ruth Shapiro Cardiovascular Center.
The gunshots left Dr. Davidson, 44, seriously wounded. He was rushed to the emergency room and underwent surgery. Twelve hours later, police and hospital administrators announced he died.
Police found Mr. Pasceri's body in an exam room in the hospital after conducting a room-to-room search. He died from an apparently self-inflicted gunshot, according to the report.
Police said there was a reason Mr. Pasceri, 55, targeted Dr. Davidson. A preliminary investigation suggests Mr. Pasceri "had some issue" with previous medical treatment his late mother received at Brigham and Women's, according to the report. Marguerite Pasceri died Nov. 15.
Elizabeth Nabel, MD, president of Brigham and Women's Hospital, sent a message to hospital staff late Tuesday night, the Globe reported. "Dr. Davidson was a wonderful and inspiring bright light and an outstanding cardiac surgeon who devoted his career to saving lives and improving the quality of life of every patient he cared for," she wrote. "It is truly devastating that his own life was taken in this horrible manner."
Dr. Davidson worked at Brigham and Women's since 2006. He was also an assistant professor at Harvard Medical School. He graduated from Yale University School of Medicine in 1996 and completed his postgraduate training at Duke University Medical Center and the Brigham. Dr. Davidson helped establish what Dr. Nabel described as one of the most advanced operating rooms in the nation, according to the report.
Ron M. Walls, MD, COO of Brigham and Women's, told the Globe the hospital is one of the first in the country to train staff on responses to "active shooter" situations in cooperation with the Boston police. Drs. Walls and Nabel both expressed pride with how hospital staff responded to the traumatic event.