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Doctors and hospitals urge felony penalty for assaults on hospital staff; committee hears safety, scope concerns
Summary
Representative Pat Heinert proposed adding "hospital worker" to a list of protected classes in the simple assault statute, making some assaults on hospital staff a felony; clinicians and the North Dakota Hospital Association supported the change, while committee members raised concerns about scope and patients with impaired judgment.
Representative Pat Heinert introduced House Bill 1341 to amend section 12.1‑17‑01 of the North Dakota Century Code to include hospital workers among persons protected by the statute that already elevates assaults against certain responders. Heinert said the bill would make assault on hospital workers — for example, nurses responding to patients — a felony in specified circumstances and argued hospitals face workplace violence similar to law enforcement and emergency responders.
Tim Blasl, president of the North Dakota Hospital Association, and Dr. Lacey Armstrong, a psychiatrist at…
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