New law in West Virginia to protect hospital workers from violence
Emergency Management Alert, May 27, 2008
Under a new law, which will take effect in West Virginia June 9, people who attack hospital workers will be charged with felonies and face stiffer criminal penalties, reported the Charleston Gazette.
Healthcare workers, including physicians, nurses, physician assistants, and technicians, will join the same “protected class” as police officers, firefighters, and paramedics, the newspaper reported. Hospital and healthcare leaders hope the new law will deter violence in the emergency room and other healthcare facilities.
In the past year, patients have pulled guns, threatened emergency personnel with knives, and smashed heart monitors and IV pumps in drug-induced rages, the Gazette reported. In one incident, police had to use a Taser to subdue a woman and on at least two occasions patients became hostile after emergency physicians refused to prescribe narcotics.
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