With threats to healthcare workers on the rise, advocates in Cleveland want to increase penalties for menacing hospital staff, but City Council is not yet convinced.
The proposed change would reclassify menacing charges from a fourth degree misdemeanor, which carries a 30-day maximum jail sentence and up to $250 in fines, to a first degree misdemeanor specifically for threatening healthcare workers. That could increase penalties to a year of jail time or up to a $1,000 fine.
Between 2023 and 2025, Cleveland Clinic reported four citations or arrests as a result of menacing. But the Clinic also reported 6,200 workplace violence events last year reported through its internal safety reporting system.
"Caregivers being physically attacked with weapons, attacked with body parts, being spit on, being threatened with communicable diseases … all the way down to individuals threatening to track down caregivers online and cause harm," said Dallas Moyer, the senior project manager for the Center of Workplace Violence Prevention and Caregiver Wellbeing at the Cleveland Clinic.
The disparity between internal and external reporting is a testament to the lack of support healthcare workers feel they have, Moyer said at a Wednesday safety committee meeting.
Healthcare advocates told council members that employees may feel more compelled to report incidents and pursue charges if they believe there will be heftier consequences. Karen Snyder of University Hospitals said that's not the case right now.
"Healthcare workers do not feel supported in this. They feel nothing's going to get done about it, so why even report it?" said Snyder, a registered nurse and member of UH's workplace violence committee. "And they just kind of go on about their day, feeling dejected and defeated and just beat up."
Some council members pointed the finger back at healthcare systems for failing to protect or support employees.
"It seems like now we wanna police our way out of what we should do with the workplace culture," said Councilmember Richard Starr. "And that sounds like a poor man's excuse, and that is something that I think they need to review in the healthcare policy and protect their employees."
Representatives of Cleveland Clinic and UH said they cannot and do not pursue charges on behalf of employees. The victim is responsible for reporting and pursuing charges with police.
"For as much as we are saying caregivers are being impacted, there is something wrong going on in our healthcare environments where you all are not pursuing the actual charges to people," said Councilmember Stephanie Howse-Jones. "And I'm trying to figure out why aren't you all taking care of your workers?"
Health system representatives pushed back.
"What has happened over the past few years is ... in the mind of the caregiver, a certain amount of violence at the workplace was acceptable to them," said Cleveland Clinic Police Chief Deon McCaulley. "And what we as an organization have done, and probably what UH and others have done also, is to emphasize that no amount of violence in the workplace is acceptable. So in past years when some of these incidents were unreported or underreported, it was because the nurse or the healthcare worker felt that this was just part of the job."
They also pointed to de-escalation trainings available to employees.
In a statement sent to the safety committee and emailed to news outlets Wednesday morning, The MetroHealth System said, in part:
"Violence against healthcare workers is a serious and escalating issue. Our nurses, physicians, behavioral health specialists, emergency department teams, and allied staff deserve to feel safe in the environments where they serve ... MetroHealth appreciates the City’s leadership in elevating this issue. This ordinance is an additional tool in the toolbox that when paired with comprehensive, system-level strategies focused on the
violence prevention to response continuum can complement existing state-level protections and help ensure every healthcare worker in every facility has meaningful safeguards against violence."
Council was not convinced. Mike Polensek, who chairs the safety committee, opted to hold the legislation. He asked the hospitals to provide more data for council and legal review. A new hearing date has not yet been set.
Last fall, Akron passed legislation to increase penalties for menacing healthcare workers.
