Nurse, safety expert testify in favor of workplace violence bill

BOSTON — "Now I have dozens of nurses physically attacked, knives pulled on them, physically assaulted," said Patricia Powers.

Powers said the hospital failed to address security issues months after last year's deadly shooting. She said violent attacks against staff have happened consistently since.

FOX25 Investigates has discovered that it's not just nurses at Brigham and Women's, but nurses from around the state believe hospitals have failed to protect their staff from workplace violence. Many of them testified on Beacon Hill Thursday.

Former Boston Police Chief Daniel Linskey testified as well before the state house n favor of a workplace violence bill that would require healthcare employers to protect their workers. Chief Linskey was hired by Brigham and Women's nurses to evaluate the security at the hospital, following the murder of Dr. Michael Davidson last January at Brigham.

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"One of the things I did was a penetration test. I walked throughout that hospital with no reason, no cause, no ability to have been there that day. I went to O.R. rooms, emergency rooms, places I shouldn't have been able to get into and that's just not acceptable," said Linskey. 

Karen Coughlin is Vice President of the Mass Nurses Association and a registered nurse at Taunton State Hospital. In her testimony Thursday, she said violent attacks in hospitals are on the rise across the state and this legislation will provide much needed support.

"Now we must take the next step to protecting nurses," she said.

Cox Media Group