Only 17 states have laws that provide full protection to nurses assaulted on the job, according to a Nurse.org analysis.
The website reviewed statutes, session laws and administrative rules across 50 states and the District of Columbia to identify laws that protect nurses from workplace assault. Laws were reviewed as of Aug. 31. States with full protection have a criminal penalty specific to healthcare workers, required employer prevention programs and explicit retaliation protection for nurses who report violence. Note, this list does not take into account general assault laws, which apply across all states and jurisdictions.
Here are seven notes from the analysis.
1. Seventeen states have full protection, though some with limitations: Arizona, California, Illinois, Kentucky, Louisiana, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, Ohio, Rhode Island, Texas, Utah, Vermont and Virginia, Maine, New York and Oregon qualify but with limitations.
2. Twenty-six states require prevention programs: Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Minnesota, Mississippi, Montana, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Rhode Island, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Virginia and Washington.
3. Eighteen states have full retaliation protections for nurses who report violence — Arizona, California, Illinois, Kentucky, Louisiana, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Oregon, Rhode Island, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, West Virginia, Wisconsin — while Maine and Michigan have partial protection.
4. Nine states have two layers of protection by punishing assaults on healthcare workers and requiring employer prevention programs, but have no healthcare-specific laws to protect nurses from retaliation after reporting: Colorado, Connecticut, Indiana, Maryland, Mississippi, Montana, North Carolina, Oklahoma and Washington.
5. Twenty-two states and the District of Columbia do not require employers to have prevention programs, but have enhanced criminal penalties for assault on a nurse: Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Iowa, Kansas, Massachusetts, Michigan, Missouri, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New Mexico, North Dakota, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, Tennessee, West Virginia and Wisconsin.
6. South Carolina and Wyoming are the only states to have no healthcare-specific penalty or prevention laws, though general assault laws still apply. Meanwhile, 43 states have criminal laws with higher penalties for assaulting healthcare workers.
7. Ten states — Arizona, Arkansas, Illinois, Louisiana, Michigan, Nebraska, New Jersey, Ohio, Oklahoma and Vermont — require facilities to post warning signs telling patients that assaulting a healthcare worker is a crime, while California and Wisconsin allow it but do not require it.
