New legislation works to address health care worker shortage, hold patient perpetrators accountable
LANSING, Mich., May 23, 2025 — State Rep. Natalie Price (D-Berkley) led the introduction of a bipartisan package this week to better address assaults perpetrated by patients against hospital and health care workers and volunteers. The bills collectively seek to fight against rising instances of violence directed toward health care workers, who are five times more likely to experience workplace violence than other workers.
“Ensuring the safety of health care professionals and medical volunteers from workplace violence is essential, and House Bills 4532-4535 represent a significant advancement in strengthening protections for these vital members of the Michigan workforce,” said Therese Mead, President of Michigan College of Emergency Physicians.
The package also prioritizes intervention over incarceration by ensuring perpetrators with serious mental illness are enrolled in Assisted Outpatient Treatment programs.
“Health care professionals and volunteers work tirelessly to save lives and keep communities healthy. This invaluable profession too often puts health care workers at risk of violence, leading to burnout and mental health struggles. From hospital workers on the frontlines of the COVID-19 pandemic to essential emergency response nurses, this package is crucial to better ensure health care workers can continue saving lives without risk of fearing for their own,” Price said.
The legislation will help mitigate the health care worker shortage affecting access to care across the state, aiming to reduce the threat of violence against nurses, physicians and other health provider employees. State Reps. Kara Hope (D-Holt), Phil Green (R-Millington) and Matthew Bierlein (R-Vassar) also sponsored bills in the package, building off of legislation passed in 2023, that addresses violence perpetrated by visitors and expanding proportional penalties, consequences and accountability measures to apply to patients as well.
“Assaults against health care workers don’t just affect our doctors and nurses; they impact the quality of care every single Michigander receives. We know that nearly half of health care workers report feeling burned out, with nurses reporting they’ve experienced increased mistreatment since the COVID-19 pandemic. We must act now to protect our essential hospital workers and volunteers, ensure accountable and transformative justice is served and preserve access to quality care for all Michiganders,” Hope said.
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