Hospital emergency personnel who are spat on or otherwise assaulted with bodily fluids could soon be added to the list of emergency personnel given extra legal protection under such circumstances.

House Bill 1105, sponsored by Rep. Cindy Acree, R-Aurora, and Sen. Jean White, R-Hayden, would allow for enhanced penalties—doubling the sentence—for assaulting emergency medical care providers in hospitals. Current law already imposes the added penalty when the assault victim is a police officer, emergency medical technician or firefighter.

White said the addition of hospital personnel to the list is not only intuitive but also simply the right thing to do.

“These are the people who are there everyday for us. Why shouldn’t we give them the benefit of elevated protection?” asked White. “This tells people that if you do this, you’re going to jail.”

An amendment was tacked on during the bill’s hearing today in the Senate Judiciary Committee that would give judges discretion when handing out sentences for the assaults that would apply to current emergency responders along with the newly added hospital workers.

Sen. Keith King voted for the bill as amended but not without hesitation due to the amendment added in committee.  King said he was concerned the discretion given to the judge under the amendment would weaken the protection already afforded emergency responders.

“This law protects people who protect us,” said King. “This amendment weakens the protection. We should be sending a strong message that if you spit at someone and say, ‘I have HIV,’ you’re going to be punished more severely for this act of psychological terrorism.”

Jane Barnes of Centura Health told the Judiciary Committee that reports by nurses say that over the last three years, they have been assaulted more than twenty times with bodily fluids. Barnes said that for some public servants, the attacks are all too common.

“Unfortunately, it’s just the way society is moving,” said Barnes.

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