Gov. Wolf signed into law a bill to strengthen penalties for assaults against healthcare practitioners and technicians. Existing state law provides stiff penalties for assaults against certain healthcare professionals, including doctors, residents, nurses and paramedics. Act 51 of 2020 will extend the same protections to a broader range of healthcare practitioners and healthcare technicians. Under the new law, the penalty for an assault against a healthcare practitioner in which there is bodily injury would be upgraded from a misdemeanor of the second degree to a felony of the second degree. The new law will go into effect in 60 days from July 1.
