Health care providers seek legislative action to curb workplace violence
Smacked in the face. Punched and choked. Kicked in the stomach so hard you throw up.
Nurses, doctors and administrators from hospitals around Vermont provided those examples of violence — from just the past week — to lawmakers on Wednesday. One after another, in often tearful testimony, the direct care providers also described their most traumatizing experiences from the last few years.
“I have been spit at, kicked, had my hair pulled, been sexually harassed, had my life threatened,” said Jill Maynard, director of emergency nursing at Southwestern Vermont Medical Center in Bennington. In one case, she said, the patient who threatened her began stalking her in the community and near her family’s home.
During a joint session of the Senate Judiciary and Health and Welfare committees, 10 witnesses organized by the Vermont Association of Hospitals and Health Systems urged legislators to support S.26. The new bill would add three clauses specific to health care workers and health care facilities to Rule 3 of the Vermont Rules of Criminal Procedure, which governs when law enforcement officers can arrest someone without a warrant.