Assaulting a Nurse Should be A Felony, Misdemeanor, or No Crime?

http://www.pressconnects.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080408/NEWS01/804080357.

This is cut from the article:

Each year, 430,000 nurses are victims of violent crimes in the workplace, according to a U.S. Department of Justice report released a few years ago. Many incidents go unreported.

A more recent survey by the American Nurses Association found that 17 percent of registered nurses had been physically assaulted at work during a one-year period. Twenty-five percent of the nurses listed physical assault as one of the top safety concerns on the job. Nurses are 10 times more likely to be assaulted on the job than the average worker and twice as often as other medical workers, Tina Gerardi, CEO of the New York State Nurses Association said.

Legislation to make attacks on nurses a felony passed the Senate last week and is expected to come up for a vote in the Assembly soon. Similar laws have been enacted in Alabama, Arizona, Illinois, Nevada and New Mexico and have been introduced in several other states, she said.

Should patients and residents be prosecuted for assaulting nurses? You see two and three page documents on patient and resident rights in healthcare facility and written into state law and regulations; how about affording nurses the same or equal rights in healthcare facilities and state law and regulations?

If a patient or resident says "abuse" "neglect" "unfair treatment" or uses other language involving a nurse that implies the same, the incident is investigated, more than likely the nurse is at-will employed and terminated, and complaints are filed with state regulatory agencies including the board of nursing.

What's your opinion?

Comments

[Inna Chimarova]

Assaulting a Nurse Should be A Felony .It absolutely should be a felony!

[latonia]

Deric,

I agree with you that there should be some accountability for patients and families. Being assaulted is not "part of the job" for nurses.

[Deric Smith]

It absolutely should be a felony! How can nurses be expected to adhere to behavioral standards while the patient and/or family members can do whatever they want? Accountability should be in play for everyone! We put ourselves at risk each and every day, and it is not too much to ask that someone have OUR backs in the process!!