Bill protecting healthcare workers from assaults passes house unanimously

In a setting where healthcare workers focus on caring for others, they are instead worrying about their own safety. Workplace violence in hospitals continues to rise and the Legislature is working to address this growing problem.

House Bill 312 will escalate assaults on healthcare workers in a hospital setting to a felony. Currently, police cannot arrest a perpetrator in a hospital setting because the assaults are categorized as a misdemeanor. Similar to domestic violence calls, HB 312 gives police the ability to arrest a perpetrator on probable cause.

The bill is moving rapidly in the Legislature. It passed the House earlier this year and passed out of the Senate Judiciary Committee last week.

During the initial House Judiciary hearing for House Bill 312, Charles “Chuck” Bill, Chief Executive Officer of Bartlett Regional Hospital provided testimony and detailed Bartlett Regional’s experiences with violent patients.

“Weekly, we hear about our staffed being kicked, punched, spit on. It’s not okay,” Bill said. “The most dramatic incident was a patient who took their I.V. tubing and tried to strangle one of my nurses.”

That nurse was Regina Deck, who also provided her testimony. Before she was assaulted, Deck said she did not consider violence as part of her job description.

“I definitely didn’t say to my family, ‘I’m going to work as a nurse today. I hope I don’t die,” she said. “Now I have to worry that every patient is out to get me.”

These incidents have caused Bartlett Regional to create several new policies to deal with the increase in violence towards nurses. Staff at Bartlett Regional are now trained on how to de-escalate violent situations.

Dress buttons have also been added to staff uniforms. The buttons can be pushed to alert the entire hospital of violent and dangerous situations. Additionally, the hospital doubled its security forces and implemented a software that flags patients who have a violent history at the hospital.

Regina Deck said that legislation to escalate assaults to felonies would help relieve hospitals from taking such drastic measures to protect their employees.

“If [assault on healthcare workers] was a felony, it would take having to enforce it ourselves out of it,” she said.

John Klapporth worked at Spring Creek Correctional Center for 25 years as a corrections officer and spent 12 years as a part-time orthopedic technician at Providence Hospital’s emergency room.

“I was involved in far more takedowns [and] restraining violent patients in the emergency rooms in those 12 part-time years than I ever was in my 25 full-time years working as a corrections officer in a max prison,” he said.

Klapporth said patients were violent for various reasons including drug and alcohol abuse.

“The people coming in off the streets into the E.R. were far more likely to be high or drunk, emotionally or mentally disturbed, disorderly or violent than long-term prisoners,” he said.

Katie Baldwin-Johnson of the Alaska Health Mental Trust expressed that there could be a negative impact on mental health trustees who make up 40 percent of incarcerations annually.

“Mental Health Trust beneficiaries are overrepresented in the criminal justice system,” she said. “We understand the need for legislation, but we need more data in order to see how we can be part of a solution.”

House Bill 312, with Rep. Matt Claman, D-Anch. as prime sponsor, addresses these concerns. The bill requires individuals in need of care to be medically stable for discharge before an arrest can be made.

Individuals are considered stable for discharge when they have received proper care for their injuries or other emergency conditions. Additionally, medical professionals must verify individuals are not a threat to themselves or others.

Rep. Chuck Kopp, R-Anch. said in a press briefing Thursday, Feb. 8 that House Bill 312 is a solution to an increasing problem.

“We have to recognize that healthcare facilities are much more sensitive to assaulted conduct,” he said. “[House Bill 312] gives law enforcement a tool to not just cite and release but to hook and book.”

Kopp is one of several cosponsors with Claman.

Becky Hultberg, President and Chief Executive Officer of the Alaska State Hospital and Nursing Home Association said workplace violence has become part of the job for hospital personnel. This notion needs to end, she said.

“Hospitals simply cannot bear the burden of community violence much longer,” she said. “Our caregivers need help. Passing this legislation tells Alaska’s doctors, nurses, CNAs, patient care technicians and law enforcement that violence in healthcare facilities is simply not acceptable.”

House Bill 312 passed the House unanimously with only one opposing vote, Rep. David Eastman, R-Palmer.

Shayne Nuesca, an Anchorage writer, is a journalism student at University of Alaska Anchorage