In early 2021, a doctor in Pennsylvania was left with multiple stab wounds in the head and face after being attacked by a psychiatric patient. She later sued Pennsylvania Hospital and Penn Medicine for “abject disregard” for the safety of employees.

Scripps Health in San Diego says its workers have experienced 17% more verbal and physical acts of violence from patients in the past few months as spikes in COVID, along with new variants like Delta and Omicron frustrate patient attitudes toward progress being made against the virus, the vaccine, and masks.


"We're also seeing an increase of staff that are being injured because of workplace violence, a 9% increase,” Anthony Roman, the director of support operations who oversees security at Scripps, told CBS8 News.

And a rise in violent assaults led Cox Medical Center Branson in Missouri in October to equip 400 of its employees at Cox Medical Center Branson with panic buttons to notify security of when attacks take place.

The hospital saw assaults rise from 40 to 123 in just one year. And while total injuries only increased from 17 to 18, assaults that led to injury went up from 42.5% to 63%. “When Public Safety response is critical and it’s not possible to get to a phone, personal panic buttons fill a critical void,” said Alan Butler, who manages public safety efforts at CoxHealth’s six hospitals and more than 80 clinics, at the time.

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