Number of Attacks on Health Care Workers Continues to Rise

San Diego, CA (WorkersCompensation.com) – Reports of attacks on healthcare staff members have increased, officials say, and in at least one state, legislators want to do something about it. 

In San Diego, Scripps Health said that since September of last year to September of this year, it has seen an 17 percent increase in reports of verbal and physical abuse against staff members. 

"There have been some very hostile people," Scripps Health President and CEO Chris Van Gorder told 8News. "They flat out refuse to wear their masks and [say] that we were making this all up and that COVID was a fantasy.” 

The hospital said it is also seeing a spike in injury reports, said Anthony Roman, who oversees security at the health system. 

"We're also seeing an increase of staff that are being injured because of workplace violence, a 9 percent increase," he told CBS 8. "I really want people to know that we're trying to help them get better. But to get angry, to try to bully, to try to intimidate, to throw things around and to physically attack at all is not OK."  

Violence against healthcare workers has been an issue in the U.S. for some time. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, in 2018 healthcare workers were five times more likely to be injured due to workplace violence than workers overall. Incidence data from 2018 showed that 73 percent of all nonfatal workplace injuries requiring days away from work. 

In 2015, a report from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration found that over a three-year period, the annual number of workplace assaults was between 23,540 and 25,630. Of those, between 70 to 74 percent occurred in the healthcare or social service settings. 

In Ohio, State Rep. Casey Weinstein tweeted that he was told by a hospital CEO that hospital workers are facing an increasing number of attacks. 

“Was just briefed by a major hospital network CEO,” Weinstein tweeted. “It’s not just that they’re beyond capacity. The families of their unvaccinated patients are ATTACKING caregivers for not giving them the ‘right’ meds and (quack) treatments.” 

Weinstein said there were 25 such incidents a day. 

He later deleted his tweet and walked back his comments saying the attacks were not from only unvaccinated patient families. However, Weinstein said he would put forth legislation in the coming session that would protect healthcare workers. 

Summa Health CEO Dr. Cliff Deveny  told the Akron Beacon Journal that the hospital routinely has 25 violent patients a day that require special monitoring since before the pandemic, but that those cases are separate from incidents involving families. 

"What we've seen over the last 20-22 months is that changes to visitation rules have frustrated people. The fact that they are required to wear masks, and that there's a limit to the people who can visit, that gets frustrating," Deveny said. "Folks at the front door who are greeting people take a lot of verbal abuse. It's more a lack of civility that's increasing as stress increases in the community."  

Andy Chow, statehouse reporter for Ohio Public Radio’s Statehouse News Bureau, later tweeted that the hospital said its staff was seeing an increase in hostility from patients’ families. 

“Dr. David Custodio, president of the Summa Health System Akron Campus, says his staff has seen an increase in hostility from family members such as questioning treatment and COVID diagnosis ‘as we're working to save their lives’." 

In New York, Oneida Health CEO Gene Morreale issued an open letter addressing the issue of unruly patients. In the letter, he said the health system had seen 40 incidents of patient aggression over the past year, but, he noted, many attacks go unreported. 

"The other day I talked to an Oneida Health nurse who was injured by an angry patient. The injury was not just the physical bruise, but also the emotional injury, both of which were very evident," Morreale wrote. "Until you are verbally or physically abused, it is difficult to appreciate the harm as well as the toll it takes on these hardworking, talented staff." 

Morreale asked the community at large to stop and think before becoming aggressive with a staff member. 

In Georgia, State Sen. Kay Kirkpatrick, M.D. is asking the Georgia General Assembly to consider increasing penalties for violent attacks on healthcare workers. Kirkpatrick is the chair of a study committee that looked into violence against healthcare workers since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. 

“We know that violence against healthcare workers is not a new problem,” she said on the floor of the General Assembly. “But we know that the problem has gotten worse and that COVID has aggravated the entire situation.” 

Kirkpatrick presented the committee’s report to the General Assembly in December. It recommended that hospitals should train healthcare workers on de-escalation techniques, as well as self-defense techniques. The committee also recommended the legislature consider increasing the penalties for attacks on healthcare workers. 

“There are already penalties in place for aggravated assault and aggravated battery,” she said. “I can’t promise legislation is going to happen or would pass if it’s proposed.” 

The committee’s final report heads to the legislature in January 2022. 

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