Shootings at two South Carolina hospitals in less than 24 hours have turned attention to state laws on hospital violence, according to The Post-Currier.
Less than 24 hours after a man opened fire in the emergency department of the Regional Medical Center in Orangeburg, hitting a nurse who remains in critical condition, another man opened fire inside Prisma Health Laurens County Hospital, shooting a security officer who returned fire, hitting the gunman.
Current laws do little to deter patients from lashing out at healthcare workers and should be reformed, some say.
Since at least 2016, the S.C. Hospital Association has been pushing for legislation that would strengthen penalties against anyone who assaults a healthcare worker on the job or someone in a healthcare facility.
South Carolina is one of three states that lacks any enhanced penalty for violence against healthcare workers, according to a 2016 study in the New England Journal of Medicine.
Cathryn Jakicic is healthcare industries editor of FacilitiesNet.com. For more information on hospital campuses and other medical facilities, visit Healthcare Facilities Today.
