Healthcare professionals face unique risks in their line of work, as they must treat individuals who may pose a risk of violence against them due to substance abuse or mental health issues. Patients and visitors may also commit assault against healthcare workers due to deliriousness, stress, or frustration. New Jersey law seeks to reduce the threats that healthcare workers face by harshly punishing assaults committed against them.
New Jersey Laws Protecting Healthcare Workers
In New Jersey, the Health Care Heroes Act makes it a crime for an individual to intentionally threaten a healthcare professional or volunteer to intimidate them or otherwise interfere with their work in healthcare settings. The Act expanded the aggravating factors courts can consider when sentencing a defendant for assaulting a healthcare worker. The Act also expanded the scope of New Jersey’s terroristic threats statute to protect healthcare employees or volunteers working in a healthcare facility, making it a disorderly persons offense for an individual to knowingly or willfully threaten or send a threat to a healthcare worker to intimidate or interfere with their duties.
The Act also requires healthcare facilities to post a conspicuous notice of the law to warn patients and visitors that assaulting a healthcare professional constitutes a crime that may result in a sentence imposing incarceration and fines.
Common Situations Leading to Assault Charges Against Healthcare Workers
Here are some examples of situations that may result in a workplace violence incident against hospital personnel that could lead to criminal charges for the alleged assailant:
- Working with patients with a history of violence due to mental health or psychological issues or suffering under the influence of drugs
- Working in neighborhoods with high crime rates
- Inadequate security
- Overcrowded waiting rooms that cause patients to become frustrated and agitated
- Mass casualty events where patients suffer from shock or deliriousness
- Lack of workplace violence prevention programs
- Healthcare workers who work alone with patients and visitors
- Unrestricted public access to healthcare facilities, including employee-only areas
Potential Legal Defenses for Assault Charges
A person facing criminal charges arising from an alleged assault of a healthcare worker may have legal defenses that can help them fight the prosecution’s case against them. Potential legal defenses for assault against healthcare worker charges include:
- Lack of intent – Defendants facing assault charges may argue that the prosecution’s case fails to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that they had the criminal intent required by the statute to assault the alleged victim.
- Temporary insanity – A defendant charged with committing an assault against a healthcare worker may claim that the alleged assault occurred when the defendant suffered from a mental health episode that rendered them incapable of understanding right or wrong, appreciating the nature of their conduct, or controlling their behavior.
- Involuntary intoxication – Defendants may present medical evidence to prove that they suffered from involuntary intoxication when the assault occurred, including from medications administered by the healthcare facility without the defendant’s consent or without advising the defendant of possible side effects/complications.
- Mistaken identity/alibi – In some circumstances, a defendant may claim that the alleged victim or an eyewitness mistakenly identified them as the assailant. A defense may argue that the victim/witness did not get a good look at the assailant or that the police used an unduly suggestive identification procedure. Alternatively, a defendant may present alibi evidence to prove they were elsewhere when the alleged assault occurred.
- Unlawfully obtained evidence or statements – A defendant may seek to exclude evidence from the prosecution’s case. This includes evidence found in a search of the defendant’s person or statements made by the defendant during a custodial interrogation. A criminal defense attorney might argue that police investigators obtained that evidence through an unlawful search or questioning if officers failed to advise the defendant of their rights.
Consequences of a Conviction
A conviction for assault against a healthcare worker may have various consequences for a defendant. Assault of a healthcare worker under the Health Care Heroes Act constitutes a disorderly persons offense, which carries a penalty of up to six months in jail, a fine of up to $1,000, or both incarceration and fines. In addition, a sentence may include the requirement to attend an anger management course of up to 12 months and up to 30 days of community service, with courts having the discretion to credit a defendant’s community service obligation against their incarceration term. Sentences may also include restitution obligations, which can require a defendant to reimburse their victim for medical expenses incurred to treat injuries caused by the assault.
A conviction will also result in a defendant having a criminal record that may come with a social stigma. Criminal records may appear in background checks for housing, employment, or educational opportunities, making it more challenging for convicted defendants to pursue such opportunities.
How a Criminal Defense Lawyer Can Help
Have you been arrested for allegedly assaulting a healthcare worker? If so, a criminal defense attorney from Keith Oliver Criminal Law can help you seek a favorable resolution to your criminal charges by:
- Thoroughly investigating your charges to obtain all available evidence that can help build a compelling defense to help you fight the prosecution’s case
- Reviewing the facts and evidence to identify potential case strategies available to you
- Helping you understand your charges and the potential outcomes of your case so that you can make informed decisions throughout the criminal justice process
- Challenging the prosecution’s case at every opportunity to pursue a reduction or dismissal of your charges, including seeking to exclude evidence unlawfully obtained by the police
- Vigorously negotiating with prosecutors to convince the state to drop your assault charges
- Pursuing the most favorable outcome under the circumstances, whether that means negotiating a plea agreement or fighting your charges at trial
The charges against you are serious, and you need dedicated, experienced legal counsel to protect your rights and interests. Contact Keith Oliver Criminal Law today for a confidential consultation with a NJ aggravated assault charges lawyer to discuss your options for resolving your charges. We look forward to meeting you, hearing your story, and advising you on your options.
