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The toll of workplace violence on hospital employees can be immense. These episodes of violence interfere with the ability of our nation’s physicians, nurses and other healthcare professionals to keep patients at the center of their work. They may also deter the next generation of bright young students from choosing medicine as a career path, further exacerbating already dire shortages.
The risk of harm resulting from violent incidents has increased during COVID-19 pandemic. Many hospitals are reeling as they struggle to fill jobs, and the remaining staff are facing historic levels of stress and burnout. At the same time, we are seeing a dramatic uptick in violence in our hospitals, and 1 in 10 nurses report increased difficulty with reporting these incidents. This strain, caused by the global health crisis, has placed an unprecedented burden on our healthcare community and catalyzed a decades-long problem that we must address.
Currently, no federal law exists that protects hospital employees from assault and intimidation. This is why I teamed up with Rep. Madeleine Dean (D-Pennsylvania) to introduce the Safety from Violence for Healthcare Employees (SAVE) Act, which would establish federal legal protections to help deter violence inside our nation’s hospitals and other care sites and keep these vital institutions safer and more secure. Local law enforcement agencies are doing the best they can to keep everyone safe, but are often overwhelmed and deserve all the support they can get.
This bill, modeled after similar protections enacted for airline and airport workers, would specifically criminalize assault or intimidation of hospital employees—with protections for individuals who may be mentally incapacitated due to illness or substance use. Enhanced penalties for those who knowingly assault and intimidate hospital employees will deter further violence and ensure future offenders are given proper punishments for their crimes. With federal protections, I hope that we can mitigate the accelerating incidents of violence on our healthcare workers to protect our physicians, nurses and other caregivers, as well as patients, family members and others inside our medical facilities.
As I travel throughout my district, I continue to hear stories of caregivers who have experienced some type of violence or abuse on the job. We cannot let this continue to be the reality. Healthcare workers and patients alike need to feel confident that hospitals are places where illness is treated and pain is lessened, not where people should be fearful.
I firmly believe that the SAVE Act, if passed, will help protect our nation’s healthcare professionals by cutting down on the frequency of workplace violence. As a result, patients will experience better care. This is a real problem facing our country and we need to take additional steps toward a solution.
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