S. 1600 — Save Healthcare Workers Act

This section establishes a new federal criminal offense (18 U.S.C. §120) for knowingly assaulting an individual employed by or contracting with a hospital or medical facility engaged in interstate commerce, while the individual is performing or on account of hospital duties on hospital grounds, punishable by a fine, imprisonment for not more than 10 years, or both. It imposes enhanced penalties of a fine, imprisonment for not more than 20 years, or both for such assaults that (1) involve a firearm or dangerous weapon or result in serious bodily injury, or (2) occur during a presidentially declared public emergency or major disaster under the Stafford Act (42 U.S.C. 5121 et seq.). It provides an affirmative defense—which the defendant must prove by a preponderance of the evidence—if the defendant has a disability as defined in section 3(1)(A) of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (42 U.S.C. 12102(1)(A)) (i.e., a physical or mental impairment substantially limiting one or more major life activities), the conduct was a direct manifestation of the disability, and the defendant could not appreciate the nature, quality, or wrongfulness of the conduct. It defines terms including "hospital" (encompassing Medicare-participating facilities such as general hospitals, long-term care hospitals, rehabilitation facilities, children's hospitals, cancer hospitals, critical access hospitals, and rural emergency hospitals), "grounds of a hospital," "dangerous weapon," and "serious bodily injury" (as in 18 U.S.C. §1365(h)). It also makes a conforming amendment to the table of sections for 18 U.S.C. ch. 7.

This section directs the Comptroller General of the United States to conduct a study on (1) the effects of this Act and its amendments on workplace violence in healthcare settings and (2) whether Federal, State, Tribal, and local prosecutions for such violence have increased or decreased due to the ability to prosecute these incidents as federal crimes.