Disability advocates fear Mass. health care violence bill goes too far

Detailed summary

Advocates fear legislation under consideration could criminalize the behavior of people with intellectual and developmental disabilities.

Massachusetts may soon approve legislation addressing the surge in violence against health care workers, but the proposal faces criticism that it could inadvertently criminalize the behavior of people with disabilities.

Health care workers already have the option to press charges against people who harm them at work, but the legislation could streamline police response or make penalties more severe.

Two versions of the legislation are now in the reconciliation process in a state House conference committee. The House bill would make assaulting and injuring a worker on the job a felony punishable by up to 10 years in prison, depending on the severity of injury.

The Senate bill doesn’t bump these incidents up to felony offenses but does give the police expanded power to arrest and detain people without a warrant when there is probable cause for misdemeanor assault.

Ann McDonough, of Westford, has a 28-year-old son, Ryan, with profound autism. He is mostly nonverbal, and when he is in discomfort or distress, he can’t explain that to his mother or caretakers.

If the House bill becomes law, she said, “he could be charged with assault.”

Health care workers say giving police the ability to detain someone without a warrant is a critical tool that could make it easier to remove a violent person from a tense situation.

The House bill states an assault must be committed “knowingly and intentionally” to be considered a felony. The Senate bill requires police to use deescalation and diversion techniques.

Health care workers have sought state action to address violence in hospital and other care settings for more than a decade. In Massachusetts, mistreatment of health care workers on the job, including threats, verbal abuse, and physical assaults, increased in the wake of the pandemic and, as of 2025, occurred somewhere in the state once every 38 minutes, according to data from the Massachusetts Health and Hospital Association.

Opening of the article, excerpted from The Boston Globe. To read the rest, open the article on the publisher's site.