New bill would make assaulting health care workers a felony in Massachusetts
BOSTON - Massachusetts lawmakers are looking to protect health care workers by making it easier to punish people who attack them.
A bill up for consideration would make assaulting a health care professional a felony, punishable by up to five years in prison.
The bill would also change the process of reporting the assaults. Currently, if a nurse presses charges against an assault suspect, the nurse must appear before a clerk magistrate, recount the incident and plead their case. The magistrate then decides whether to proceed with filing charges. This bill would eliminate that step.
"Why should a nurse who's been the victim of violence and all that entails take his or her own personal time to pursue charges against an assailant who, at the end of the day, will face no real consequences for his or her actions?" asked Massachusetts Nurses Association President Katie Murphy.
In the past decade, there's been a 110% spike in the number of violent incidents reported against health care workers.