PORTLAND, Ore. — One in four nurses are assaulted in the workplace, and as few as 20% of those incidents are actually reported, according to the American Nurses Association.
Oregon lawmakers will consider a bipartisan bill this session that expands the crime of assault in the third degree to apply to someone who intentionally, knowingly or recklessly causes physical injury to a person working in a hospital while performing their official duties. Currently, such an assault is classified as a misdemeanor.
Rep. Shelly Boshart Davis, a Republican from Albany, and Rep. Sheri Shouten, a Beaverton Democrat, are co-sponsoring House Bill 4142. The measure would give health care workers the same protections as emergency medical services providers, taxi operators, flaggers, highway workers, correction officers and youth authority staff, according to a fact sheet.
Oregon Workers’ Compensation data show that claims in health care involving violence rose from 309 in 2013 to 536 in 2020. Anecdotally, caregivers say that hostility from patients is at an all-time high during the Covid-19 pandemic.
“Reports of incidents have been on the rise over the past multiple years, and with Covid, more people are in hospitals, it’s a more frustrating time, or there could be another reason for the increase,” Boshart Davis said in an interview.
This is at least the third time that similar legislation has been proposed, but Boshart Davis said she believes its time has come.
Read the full story at the Portland Business Journal.
