ATLANTA — All through the COVID-19 pandemic, healthcare employees handled elevated assaults by sufferers, pushing one Gwinnett County physician and lawmaker to introduce a invoice to guard them.
It’s unlawful to commit assault anyone, however there are particular legal guidelines in opposition to assaulting cops. This invoice would equally broaden the legislation making it against the law to commit violence in opposition to healthcare employees.
“The affected person lunged towards me, pulling my hair, twisting my hair tightly between her fingers, the place nobody was in a position to get me free,” a longtime hospital employee advised a Senate committee in 2021.
The committee was analyzing violence in medical workplaces.
“It has been very a lot underreported,” Deb Bailey of the Northeast Georgia Well being System additionally testified.
Bailey stated healthcare employees more and more turned targets because the COVID-19 pandemic grew.
“Covid has actually exacerbated what we’re seeing within the hospital surroundings notably, with the violence in opposition to well being care employees,” Bailey stated.
The rationale, she stated, was usually sheer frustration with the well being scare and the scarcity of obtainable assist because the variety of sufferers grew.
State Rep. Michelle Au’s invoice would add a felony statute for assault of any healthcare employee in any medical setting – whereas maybe serving to resolve one other healthcare drawback.
“Already in a excessive stress surroundings, we’re already having much more burnout and folks leaving our career at a time once we are already vastly understaffed with regards to well being care employees,” stated Au (D-Johns Creek), an anesthesiologist.
Though the legislation at present singles out defending well being employees in emergency settings, Au’s invoice would prolong that to different healthcare settings.
Au expects to have the backing of Republicans as her invoice takes root on this yr’s legislative session.
