Is Assaulting a Healthcare Worker a Felony?

 Posted on September 13, 2024 in Violent Crimes

There has been a nationwide push to protect healthcare workers against workplace violence. This is in response to an overall increase in the frequency and severity of physical assaults against nurses and other healthcare workers in hospitals and outpatient clinics. Texas responded by updating its assault laws to make any assault against a healthcare worker on hospital property a third-degree felony. This means that you will automatically be charged with a crime similar to aggravated assault if the victim was a nurse, CNA, doctor, or other staff member at a hospital or clinic. If you have been accused of assaulting a healthcare worker, you need an experienced Houston, TX felony assault attorney.

Who is Considered a Healthcare Worker Under the New Assault Law? 

Texas’s healthcare worker assault law covers all hospital personnel. You can be charged with a felony assault if the victim was a: 

• Doctor 
• Nurse
• Nursing assistant 
• Environmental services worker (hospital custodian) 
• Receptionist at a medical office or emergency room 
• Patient care advocate 
• Chaplain
• Anyone else employed by a medical center who was on the medical center’s grounds when the assault took place

Prosecutions for Assaulting Healthcare Workers Are Becoming More Common 

In the past, healthcare workers were often discouraged from pressing assault charges by their employers. Having a patient or family member arrested for physically attacking a nurse or other staff member could be seen as "bad PR." However, the culture surrounding healthcare worker safety is changing. More and more nurses and other staff have begun following through with calling the police and pressing charges when they are assaulted at work.

Can Psychiatric or Impaired Patients be Arrested for Assault? 

Having a diagnosed mental illness does not protect a patient from being held responsible for attacking the healthcare workers trying to treat them. It is common for patients who have been placed on an involuntary psychiatric hold to fight with staff members. However, unless the patient’s psychiatric condition is so severe that he or she cannot understand right from wrong - for example, if a patient having an acute psychotic break believes that a nurse is trying to kill her - the patient can most likely be prosecuted.

Elderly patients with dementia are generally exempt from prosecution, as these patients are too disoriented to understand their actions. While violence by elders with dementia is unfortunate, it is commonly understood to be a direct result of their illness and beyond their control.

Contact a Harris County, TX Healthcare Worker Assault Attorney

Murphy & McKinney Law Firm, P.C. can help if you have been accused of assaulting a healthcare worker. Experienced Houston, TX defense lawyer Doug Murphy understands how emotions surrounding medical emergencies can cause a person to act out of character and will seek to resolve your charges in the best way possible. Contact us at 713-229-8333 for a complimentary consultation.