In 2023, lawmakers passed a bill that required health care facilities to report violence against workers to the Montana Department of Justice. That data collection effort is due to sunset this summer.
Vicky Byrd with the Montana Nurses Association had tried to get legislation to protect medical staff passed before.
“We’ve brought legislation forward to make it a misdemeanor; got shut down. Make it a felony; got shut down,” she says.
Byrd thought lawmakers didn’t believe violence against health care workers was a major problem, so the nurses association pushed for the data collection bill.
The report documented 534 instances of violence or threats against health workers in a year’s time. About half of documented violence was against nurses. The report found violence ranged from choking, biting and throwing things at staff.
Byrd says the data back up years of stories she’s heard from Montana nurses about assaults they’ve experienced.
“Getting beat unconscious, to maybe getting stabbed, getting a gun pulled on them.”
A bill this session would require health care facilities and state officials to continue collecting data. It passed out of the House but a Senate committee tabled the legislation.
Byrd says collecting more data is crucial to getting future legislation to protect workers passed.
