Violence in Pennsylvania hospitals and health care facilities is leaving staff members injured and contributing to staffing shortages. 11 Investigates has been examining the issue for the last year through our investigative series Code Blue.
In February 2025, a gunman held staff members hostage in an intensive care unit at UPMC Memorial Hospital in York, Pennsylvania. The incident ended with several staff members being shot or assaulted. A police officer and the gunman both died in the shooting.
More than one year later, legislation proposed to help protect health care workers has stalled in the Pennsylvania General Assembly, all while new efforts introduced have seen little movement so far.
“If you talk to anybody who works in the health space, whether it’s in a hospital or a doctor’s office, this is a problem,” said Pennsylvania State House Representative Jason Ortitay, a Republican who represents parts of Allegheny and Washington counties. “They tell me every day it’s a battle. Just hearing some of the things they have to deal with, even just stalking or people being belligerent with them or threatening them violently.”
11 Investigates has reported numerous attacks on health care workers across the Pittsburgh region and western Pennsylvania in the last year. Those attacks have landed medical workers in the hospital as patients, left at least one critically injured and kept others off work for extended periods of time.
“We have a shortage of every type of health professional in Pennsylvania, and so it is a critical, critical issue,” said Pennsylvania State House Representative Arvind Venkat, an emergency physician and democrat who represents Allegheny County.
Health care workers and lawmakers tell 11 Investigates the situation has reached a crisis level and should concern people across Pennsylvania. The safety concerns not only put health care workers at risk. They are also a safety risk for patients.
It is a growing problem across the country, from Miami Beach, where a teenager body slammed a doctor, leaving him motionless for several minutes and severely injured, to a man in Columbus, Ohio, charged with dragging and grabbing a postpartum nurse near her neck, all while he was holding a newborn baby.
The threat of violence has become so prominent that the FBI released new guidance aimed at helping health care organizations prevent targeted violence. They also released a new PSA encouraging health care workers to report concerning behavior by disgruntled colleagues, patients or family members.
“Healthcare workplace violence happens every single day… I’ve had patients who have taken swings at me. I’ve been struck by patients,” Venkat said. “It’s scary.”
He believes there is a direct connection between violence concerns and Pennsylvania’s growing health care worker shortage.
“I have seen colleagues, physicians, nurses, who’ve left the profession either unfortunately due to injury or due to the fact that they no longer feel safe in their workplace,” Venkat said.
Last May, House lawmakers passed the Health Care Workplace Violence Prevention Act, House Bill 926, with bipartisan support. Venkat and Ortitay both voted in support of the bill. If passed, it would establish several requirements for hospitals, including the formation of workplace violence prevention committees and reporting requirements for incidents.
The bill has been sitting in the Senate Labor and Industry committee since May 22 of last year.
“Why is it still sitting in the Senate?” WPXI Investigative Reporter Jatara McGee asked Venkat.
“I think it’s a question for my state senate colleagues,” Venkat said. “The hospital association has been pretty vehement in their opposition to this legislation.”
11 Investigates reached out to the Hospital and Healthsystem Association of Pennsylvania for their stance on House Bill 926 and House Bill 3241. They declined to comment.
When asked why lawmakers have not responded faster to the growing crisis, Ortitay said, “I wouldn’t say that it’s surprising. I mean we are a very slow and deliberate body. The key is it’s not just a reaction. It’s what you do. And what you do is sometimes more important than how quickly you react to it because you wanna do something that is impactful and meaningful and actually works.”
11 Investigates, last year, exclusively surveyed more than 500 healthcare professionals who work across Pennsylvania. Fifty percent of respondents said they have considered leaving healthcare due to violence.
“We’re already in the crisis. I mean, if you look at some of the more rural areas here in Washington County or even beyond in the T part of the state, it’s — we’re there. I mean, we’re at a crisis point, we’re at a tipping point now when it comes to people in healthcare,” Oritay said.
In March, Ortitay introduced House Bill 3241, the Health Care Facility Threat Assessment Grant Program. If passed, it would establish a process and funding for hospital groups to undergo threat assessments and identify vulnerabilities in their specific facility.
“I’ve heard the argument of why is the state getting involved in a nonprofit or a private organization? Well, because I think that this is a good place for us to say, look, there needs to be some standard here,” Ortitay said.
Threat assessments are included in the FBI’s memo on prevention efforts for health care groups.
“I’m starting to hear chatter that people are very interested in running this bill now or at least looking at it,” Ortitay said. “At least that’s what I’m being told is that there is some momentum building behind this.”
If you are a health care worker who has been injured in an attack and want to share your story, or if you have safety concerns about a local health care facility, email 11investigates@wpxi.com.
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