"Nurses have always had to deal with inappropriate behavior from patients for years," says Christine Pontus, associate director of the health and safety division of the Massachusetts Nurses Association (MNA). "We're getting many more episodes and much more deviance. It's a matter of both frequency and severity."

A recent Canadian survey of ER staff in an inner-city tertiary care center found that 68 percent reported an increased frequency in violence, and 60 percent reported an increase in violence severity.


The law fights back

The numbers are so bad when it comes to patients attacking those in health care that Massachusetts passed legislation through the Senate in April to further protect health care workers. The employee safety law currently on the books makes it a specific crime to commit assault and battery on emergency medical technicians, ambulance operators and ambulance attendants. Currently awaiting House action, the law would extend protection to doctors, dentists, nurses, social workers, chiropractors and psychologists.

The extended version of the law, entitled An Act Relative to Assault on Health Care Providers, comes after the state saw a spike in attacks against health care workers; half of Massachusetts nurses have at least been punched within the last two years, according to data from the Beacon Hill Roll Call. And 25 to 30 percent of nurses are regularly pinched, spit on, scratched or have their wrists or hands twisted, according to a 2004 MNA Task Force and Congress on Health and Safety survey.

The bill would extend the existing penalties - a mandatory 90-day minimum sentence in prison or at least a $500 fine for anyone who assaults a worker who is responsible for treating or transporting them - to those convicted of assault on these newly included health care workers.

Massachusetts Sen. Michael Morrissey (D-Mass.), who backs the legislation, says he hopes it will send the message that assault "won't be tolerated."

His move to extend protection to nurses comes after finding they "also experience similar problems," as emergency responders when it comes to violence.

The senator quotes a survey from a Massachusetts hospital that found there were three 911 calls a day from within the hospital as a result of dangerous situations.

"A lot of jobs aren't what they used to be," Morrissey says. "There's a nursing shortage, a staffing shortage. We can't have people getting away with assault of people who are doing the right thing. The increased penalties send a strong message...People should be responsible for their actions."

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