Yes, a nurse can press charges against a patient who assaults, threatens, or unlawfully touches them at work. In practical terms, that means reporting the incident to law enforcement and cooperating with the investigation. The prosecutor, not the nurse, makes the final decision to file formal charges, but the nurse’s report is what starts the process and their cooperation weighs heavily in whether the case moves forward.
What Pressing Charges Actually Means
In a criminal case, the nurse who was harmed is the complaining witness. You file a police report, give a detailed account, and identify the person responsible. Police investigate and can arrest. Prosecutors then decide whether to formally charge the patient based on the evidence, the severity of the offense, and your willingness to cooperate.1Congress.gov. Constitution Annotated Amdt1.7.5.6 True Threats You don’t have veto power over whether charges are filed, and neither does your employer.
The criminal case is the state punishing the patient’s conduct. It’s separate from any civil lawsuit you might bring for money damages, which is its own process.
Which Patient Behaviors Are Crimes
Not every difficult encounter is criminal, but the line gets crossed more often in healthcare than many nurses realize. The Bureau of Labor Statistics recorded over 78,000 workplace violent-act injuries requiring days away from work or restricted duty in private industry during the 2023–2024 reporting period, with healthcare consistently among the hardest-hit sectors.2Bureau of Labor Statistics. Employer-Reported Workplace Injuries and Illnesses 2023-2024
Physical Contact
Battery covers any intentional, unwanted physical contact: striking, grabbing, kicking, spitting. The contact does not need to cause serious injury to count. Assault is a related offense that involves an action making a person reasonably fear imminent harm even without physical contact. A patient lunging at you or cocking a fist qualifies.
Threats and Harassment
Verbal conduct can be criminal, but the bar is higher than rude or offensive language. A threat of violence must be a “true threat,” meaning the speaker either intended it to be perceived as threatening or consciously disregarded a substantial risk it would be.1Congress.gov. Constitution Annotated Amdt1.7.5.6 True Threats A patient who tells you “I’m going to find you in the parking lot and hurt you” has likely crossed that line. Repeated, targeted verbal abuse aimed at causing fear or substantial emotional distress can also constitute criminal harassment, even if no single statement alone would qualify as a threat.
Sexual Contact
Unwanted sexual touching by a patient is a separate and typically more serious criminal offense. Depending on the jurisdiction and the nature of the contact, sexual battery can be charged as a felony carrying significant prison time. Nurses sometimes dismiss this kind of contact as part of the job. It isn’t, and it’s prosecutable.
Enhanced Penalties for Assaulting Healthcare Workers
A growing number of states impose harsher penalties when the victim of an assault is a healthcare worker performing their duties. In many of these states, what would ordinarily be a misdemeanor assault becomes a felony when directed at a nurse. At the federal level, the Save Healthcare Workers Act was introduced in Congress in 2025 and would create federal criminal penalties of up to 10 years in prison for knowingly assaulting hospital personnel, and up to 20 years when a dangerous weapon is used or bodily injury results.3Congress.gov. Text – 119th Congress (2025-2026): Save Healthcare Workers Act That bill was still pending as of mid-2025.
How to Report an Assault
What you do in the hours after the incident shapes whether a case can actually be built.
Get Safe and Get Checked Out
Remove yourself from the situation first. Get help from coworkers or security, then seek a medical evaluation. Some injuries don’t manifest right away, and the medical record itself becomes evidence.
Preserve Evidence
This is where cases either gain traction or fall apart. Photograph any injuries with a ruler or common object for scale, and take photos again a day or two later when bruising may be more visible. Save torn or bloodied clothing in a paper bag rather than washing it. Write down exactly what happened as soon as possible: what the patient said word-for-word, what you said, what you felt, and who else was present. A contemporaneous written account is far more credible than a recollection weeks later.
Report Internally
Notify your charge nurse, supervisor, and the facility’s security department. Complete the formal incident report. This creates an official record with the time, location, witnesses, and description of the incident.
File a Police Report
Contact law enforcement. Your employer cannot prevent you from doing this. Give officers a clear, factual statement and the names of any witnesses. If security cameras cover the area, mention that so officers can request the footage before it’s overwritten.
What HIPAA Lets You Tell Police
Fear of violating HIPAA stops many nurses from reporting. That fear is usually overstated. The HIPAA Privacy Rule contains specific exceptions that allow disclosure of patient information to law enforcement.
When a nurse who is a member of the facility’s workforce is the victim, HIPAA permits reporting limited identifying information about the suspected perpetrator to police. That includes the patient’s name and address, date and place of birth, Social Security number, type of injury, and a physical description. It does not include DNA, dental records, or tissue samples under this provision.4HHS.gov. When Does the Privacy Rule Allow Covered Entities to Disclose Protected Health Information to Law Enforcement Officials
A separate provision lets a covered entity report information it believes in good faith to be evidence of a crime that occurred on its premises.5HHS.gov. HIPAA Privacy Rule: A Guide for Law Enforcement All disclosures to law enforcement are subject to the “minimum necessary” standard, meaning you share only what’s needed.4HHS.gov. When Does the Privacy Rule Allow Covered Entities to Disclose Protected Health Information to Law Enforcement Officials The governing regulation is 45 CFR § 164.512(f).6eCFR. 45 CFR 164.512 – Uses and Disclosures for Which an Authorization or Opportunity to Agree or Object Is Not Required
In practice, you can tell police what the patient did, identify the patient, and describe the circumstances. Sharing the patient’s broader medical history or diagnosis goes beyond what’s permitted. When in doubt, ask your facility’s compliance officer or risk management team what specific information you can release.
Protection Against Employer Retaliation
Some nurses hesitate to file a police report because they worry their employer will treat it as making trouble. Section 11(c) of the Occupational Safety and Health Act prohibits an employer from firing, demoting, or otherwise discriminating against an employee for exercising rights under the Act. A nurse who believes they’ve been retaliated against can file a complaint with the Secretary of Labor within 30 days. If the complaint is upheld, available remedies include reinstatement and back pay.7Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 29 USC 660 – Judicial Review
Beyond the federal statute, most states recognize a wrongful termination claim when an employee is fired for conduct that serves a clear public policy, such as reporting a crime. An employer that punishes a nurse for cooperating with a criminal investigation faces significant legal exposure. If you experience any negative job action after reporting, document it carefully and consult an employment attorney.
When the Patient Has a Mental Illness
This is where prosecution of patients gets genuinely complicated. If violent behavior was caused by dementia, delirium, psychosis, or another severe mental condition, the court may need to evaluate whether the patient had the mental capacity to form criminal intent. Under the insanity defense standard used in federal courts and many states, a defendant must show that due to a severe mental disease or defect, they were unable to appreciate the nature or wrongfulness of their actions.8Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 USC 17 – Insanity Defense The burden falls on the defendant, and the standard is clear and convincing evidence.
When a patient is found not guilty by reason of insanity, the typical outcome is commitment to a secure psychiatric facility rather than imprisonment. That doesn’t make your report pointless. The legal process still documents the violent behavior, may lead to appropriate treatment, and creates a record that protects future healthcare workers. Even when a conviction isn’t realistic, filing the police report matters.
Time Limits for Reporting
Criminal charges must be filed within a statute of limitations that varies by state and offense severity. For misdemeanor assault, most states set a deadline of one to two years from the date of the incident. Felony assault generally carries a longer window, often three to six years. The clock starts on the date of the assault, not the date you report it. Report as soon as possible. Waiting makes evidence harder to gather, witnesses harder to locate, and the case harder to prosecute.
What Happens to the Patient, and What You Can Recover
If the prosecutor files charges and the patient is convicted, the consequences depend on the offense and the jurisdiction. Potential outcomes include criminal fines, probation, mandatory anger management or other treatment, and, in more serious cases, incarceration. Assaults involving weapons, serious injuries, or sexual contact typically carry felony-level penalties.
A court can also order the convicted patient to reimburse you for financial losses directly caused by the assault, including medical expenses and lost wages from missed shifts. This is called restitution, and it becomes a condition of the offender’s probation or supervised release. It does not cover pain and suffering, which would require a separate civil lawsuit.9Department of Justice: Criminal Division. Restitution Process
Separately, every state administers a crime victim compensation fund that can help cover medical costs, mental health counseling, and lost wages for victims of violent crime. These programs are partially funded through the federal Victims of Crime Act, and amounts vary by state.10Congress.gov. The Crime Victims Fund (CVF): Federal Support for Victims of Crime You can apply for victim compensation regardless of whether the criminal case ends in a conviction.