Violence against health care workers: what physicians and nurses say, in their own words

Last updated September 24, 2026.

The short answer

Read together, the 59 KevinMD posts on violence against health care workers say one thing consistently: it is treated as part of the job, and the people it happens to say it is not. The record holds a surgeon shot at Johns Hopkins in 2010, a nurse who died of a patient assault in 2019, a hand surgeon killed in his clinic in 2023, and the figures physicians cite alongside them: nearly three-quarters of workplace assaults occur in health care, half of emergency physicians have been physically assaulted, and only 3 percent say their hospital pressed charges. Underreporting or silence is named in 9 percent of the posts before 2017 and 43 percent since 2025. The record also holds the violence inside the team, the bullying that nurses and residents describe from their own colleagues, and the physicians who disagree about who is to blame for it.

This page is a maintained record of what physicians, nurses, and the people who study health care have written about violence and abuse against health care workers on KevinMD.com, a physician-authored publication founded in 2004 by Kevin Pho, MD, a board-certified internal medicine physician in Nashua, New Hampshire. It draws on 59 essays and podcast transcripts with workplace violence, assault, attack, threat, abuse, bullying, or incivility in the title in a health care setting, published between September 2009 and September 2026 by 40 named contributors, 33 of the posts bylined by physicians, 9 by nurses, and 8 of them podcast episodes with transcripts. Of the 59, 22 were published from 2023 onward and 7 in 2026 alone, the most of any year. It is the smallest record on the site, and its size is part of what it documents. Every claim is attributed to a named author with the month it was published, quoted in the author’s own words, and linked to the original.

This record is about violence done to health care workers, by patients, families, strangers, and colleagues. Gun violence as a public health subject, domestic violence, sexual assault of patients, and child abuse are outside it; violence against women as patients is on the Women’s health: what physicians say, in their own words record. Nurses and podcast guests are cited at the same weight as physicians and identified as such. Each section opens with a direct answer, then what named authors have said, in the order they said it. Where authors cite figures, the source is named alongside the author and the figures are theirs as of the date they wrote. This is physician and nurse testimony, not a safety protocol.

This record at a glance

59posts

2009 to 2026years covered

40named contributors

39posts cited on this page

Questions this record answers

What happened? What physicians and nurses say about being attacked.
Is it part of the job? What physicians say about underreporting.
Why does it happen? What physicians say about the causes.
What do physicians say about employers, security, and the law?
What do physicians and nurses say about bullying inside the team?
What happens afterward? What physicians say about fear and leaving.
What do physicians disagree about?
What would fix it? What physicians propose.
How has the conversation changed since 2009?

What happened? What physicians and nurses say about being attacked.

The attacks described on KevinMD begin in 2011 with a surgeon shot at Johns Hopkins and a nurse beaten with a chair leg, and continue with an IV pole used as a weapon, a pregnant emergency physician assaulted in a hallway, a nurse who died of her injuries, a hand surgeon shot in his clinic, and an active-shooter alert that read run, hide, fight. Assault appears in 27 percent of posts before 2017 and 64 percent since 2025.

Kevin Pho, MD, wrote in March 2011 that the previous fall “a surgeon at Johns Hopkins Hospital was shot by the distraught son of a patient,” in “Understanding patient violence against health care workers.” Constantine Ioannou, MD, a psychiatrist, wrote in November 2017 that “Once a patient decided to use a metal IV pole as a weapon,” in “I was attacked by a patient and want my fear to help others.” Vidor E. Friedman, MD, an emergency physician and ACEP president, wrote in October 2018 citing an ACEP poll that “Nearly half (47 percent) of emergency physicians report being physically assaulted,” in “Violence in the emergency department puts patients and physicians at risk.” Marlene Harris-Taylor, a journalist, wrote in June 2019 that “Cleveland Clinic officials say they confiscate thousands of weapons like knives, pepper spray and guns each year,” in “The epidemic of violence against health care workers.” Amy Costigan, MD, an emergency physician, wrote in July 2019 that “Throughout the country, providers report being pushed, groped, spit on, choked, kicked, punched, stabbed, and even shot,” in “Workplace violence in the health care setting is a public health emergency.” June Zanes Garen, RN, a nurse, wrote in August 2021 that “Lynne stepped in to protect her colleague and the patient subsequently turned his attention to physically assaulting her,” in “In memory of a nurse who died from injuries sustained during a patient assault.” Muhamad Aly Rifai, MD, a psychiatrist, wrote in May 2025 of Benjamin Mauck, a Tennessee hand specialist “shot and killed in July 2023 by a patient inside a medical center in Collierville,” in “When doctors die in silence: Confronting the epidemic of violence against physicians.” Beatrice Preti, MD, an oncologist, wrote in October 2025 that “I have even been in the stairwell as a shooting happened in the emergency department,” in “What an active shooter taught me about being a doctor.” Carleigh Beriont and June Zanes Garen, RN, a nurse, with a labor historian, wrote in March 2026 that “In 2017, that belief was shattered when I was physically assaulted at work,” in “Violence against health care workers: the silence must end.” Amanda Dean, RN, a nurse, wrote in March 2026 citing statistics that “one in four nurses are physically assaulted every year,” in “Workplace violence against nurses: a crisis of systemic failure.”

On The Podcast by KevinMD: “A nurse’s story of health care workplace violence,” June Garen, October 2021.

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Is it part of the job? What physicians say about underreporting.

Physicians and nurses on KevinMD say the violence is expected, underreported by half, and rarely prosecuted: seven in ten assaulted emergency physicians say the incident was reported and 3 percent say charges were pressed; underreporting runs to half; a psychiatrist says it is not part of the job. The 2025 and 2026 posts name the normalization itself as the danger.

Vidor E. Friedman, MD, an emergency physician and ACEP president, wrote in October 2018 that of assaulted emergency physicians “only 3 percent say the hospital pressed charges,” in “Violence in the emergency department puts patients and physicians at risk.” Marlene Harris-Taylor, a journalist, wrote in June 2019 quoting a nurse that “It is expected that you are going to get beat up from time to time,” in “The epidemic of violence against health care workers.” Mercy Udoji, MD, an anesthesiologist, wrote in September 2020 that “It is widely accepted that health care workers underreport incidents of violence at their workplace by ~50 percent,” in “When an epidemic of violence against health care workers meets a pandemic.” Harry Severance, MD, an emergency physician, wrote in January 2024 that “Violence and assaults against health care workers are now reported at an all-time high,” in “Leaders advise us to accept it as a job norm: violence and abuse in the health care workplace.” Muhamad Aly Rifai, MD, a psychiatrist, wrote in May 2025 that “This is not ‘part of the job.’ Violence against physicians is a national crisis,” in “When doctors die in silence: Confronting the epidemic of violence against physicians.” Dr. Amanpreet Mann, MHA, a health administrator, wrote in July 2026 that “That normalization is the real danger, and the data now make it impossible to look away,” in “Workplace violence prevention is already your duty.”

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Why does it happen? What physicians say about the causes.

The causes physicians on KevinMD name have been the same since 2011 and grew worse in the pandemic: waiting, intoxication, untreated psychiatric illness, understaffing, and, in the 2026 account of a psychiatrist, the moment a clinician says no to an opioid, an antibiotic, or a scan. Pandemic or COVID appears in 69 percent of posts in 2020 to 2022 and 14 percent since 2025.

Kevin Pho, MD, wrote in March 2011 that a survey noted “the violence seemed to be increasing at the same time the number of alcohol-, drug- and psychiatric-related patients was rising,” in “Understanding patient violence against health care workers.” Joyce Ho, MD, a physician, wrote in September 2014 that “patients are readily resorting to violence to take out their frustration on medical personnel,” in “When patients attack: How safe are health care workers?” Vidor E. Friedman, MD, an emergency physician and ACEP president, wrote in October 2018 that a majority of emergency physicians believe “at least half of the assaults are committed by people seeking drugs or under the influence of drugs or alcohol,” in “Violence in the emergency department puts patients and physicians at risk.” Mercy Udoji, MD, an anesthesiologist, wrote in September 2020 that “The COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated factors that cause violence in the workplace,” in “When an epidemic of violence against health care workers meets a pandemic.” Adaira Landry, an emergency physician, said on The Podcast by KevinMD in April 2024 of some agitated patients, that “they’ve been in the emergency department for two days waiting for a bed, and that’s why they’re agitated,” in “Workplace violence in health care [PODCAST].” Devina Maya Wadhwa, MD, a physician, wrote in February 2025 that “The excessive wait times, archaic hospital policies, and lack of pillows on hospital beds create a cauldron,” in “How abuse in health care is driving doctors out of medicine.” Timothy Lesaca, MD, a psychiatrist, wrote in May 2026 that “Aggression spikes immediately following a necessary clinical boundary, saying ‘no’ to opioids, inappropriate antibiotics, or unwarranted imaging,” in “Violence against doctors: 5 forces that ignite it.”

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What do physicians say about employers, security, and the law?

Physicians and nurses on KevinMD describe hospitals that report the assault and do not press charges, security stationed in a distant emergency room, a death threat the organization did not act on for an hour, and an OSHA standard in development since 2016 and moved to long-term action in 2025. Two accounts are of what works: California’s 1993 training mandate and a trauma-informed unit whose assaults fell from ten to one. Security appears in 20 percent of posts in 2017 to 2019 and 50 percent since 2025.

Steven Reidbord, MD, a psychiatrist, wrote in May 2018 that “Courses in ‘Managing Assaultive Behavior’ are widespread, and evidence suggests they are effective in decreasing violence in health care settings,” in “Firm words and a cool head: managing assaultive behavior.” Marlene Harris-Taylor, a journalist, wrote in June 2019 of the Cleveland Clinic, that “The metal detectors were installed in response to what CEO Tom Mihaljevic calls an epidemic,” in “The epidemic of violence against health care workers.” Jenica W. Cimino, Lyza Hiltner, RN, Katie E. Raffel, MD, a nurse, a physician, and a researcher, wrote in November 2022 of a trauma-informed care program, that “The number of assaults decreased from 10 (pre) to 1 (post),” in “Breaking the cycle of violence in hospitals: the role of trauma-informed care.” A physician, writing anonymously, wrote in January 2023 that “when an angry patient made a death threat towards me and nothing was done by my organization,” in “Physician speaks out about being threatened by a patient and betrayed by an organization.” Dr. Amanpreet Mann, MHA, a health administrator, wrote in July 2026 that OSHA “has been developing a health care-specific workplace-violence standard since 2016,” in “Workplace violence prevention is already your duty.” The American Society of Anesthesiologists, in a statement, wrote in August 2026 citing OSHA that “serious workplace violence incidents occur in health care settings nearly four times more often than in private industry overall,” in “Workplace violence in health care demands systemic change.”

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What do physicians and nurses say about bullying inside the team?

The bullying posts on KevinMD begin in 2011 with a nurse’s New York Times op-ed that blamed doctors and Kevin Pho’s answer that everyone shares the blame, and continue with nurses on lateral aggression, residents on the hierarchy that enables it, a physician who reported bullying and was fired by the bully, and, in 2026, a psychiatrist who says organizations still tolerate leaders who intimidate. Bullying appears in 64 percent of posts before 2017 and 7 percent since 2025.

Sarah Beth Cowherd, RN, a nurse, wrote in March 2011 that most often “this bullying is a ‘lateral aggression,’ not one of superior to subordinate,” in “Bullying among nurses needs to stop.” Kevin Pho, MD, wrote in May 2011 that “Nurses in turn bully other nurses, attending physicians bully doctors-in-training, and experienced nurses sometimes bully the newest doctors,” in “Theresa Brown unfairly blames doctors for hospital bullying.” Beth Boynton, RN, MS, CP, a nurse, wrote in February 2016 that “When we use the term ‘bully,’ it allows us to blame one person,” in “Use the power of words to reduce bullying of nurses.” Andrew C. Bland, MD, a physician and former administrator, wrote in June 2018 that “Mistreatment also frequently occurs in an interdisciplinary manner between physicians and non-physicians, supervisors and direct reports, nurses, and technicians,” in “How to fix bullying in health care.” Leanne Rowe, MD, a family physician, wrote in April 2019 that “Routine performance review, justified criticism of suboptimal clinical management, or an occasional short temper due to sleep deprivation,” are clearly not bullying, in “Medical workplace bullying: We just want it to stop.” Leanne Rowe, MD, a family physician, wrote in May 2019 that “More often, bullies target high achieving victims who they envy,” in “How to spot a narcissistic doctor.” Leanne Rowe, MD, a family physician, wrote in May 2019 that “Collectively, good doctors must take responsibility for holding bullies to account and believing victims,” in “How to manage narcissistic doctors.” Kellie Lease Stecher, MD, an obstetrician-gynecologist, wrote in March 2022 that “I was being bullied, reported the bullying, and was fired a couple of days later by the bully,” in “A physician was bullied and fired by the bully.” Aldebra Schroll, MD, a physician, wrote in October 2022 that “The Joint Commission, in a 2021 updated statement, refers to workplace incivility as an epidemic,” in “We need to talk about the bullying in health care.” Karla Lester, MD, a pediatrician, wrote in July 2023 that “Name it. It’s not physician burnout; it’s moral injury,” in “The epidemic of narcissistic abuse in the medical field.” Maryna Mammoliti, MD, a psychiatrist who treats physicians, wrote in June 2025 that “administrative violence has now become another domain of abuse physicians face daily,” in “The hidden war on doctors: Understanding administrative violence.” Muhamad Aly Rifai, MD, a psychiatrist, wrote in April 2026 that “Yet many organizations still tolerate leaders who intimidate, retaliate, and demean,” in “Confronting the reality of bullying in medicine today.”

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What happens afterward? What physicians say about fear and leaving.

After the assault, the physicians and nurses on KevinMD describe fear that stayed, PTSD, a hospital that treated the victim as a liability, and departure: a nurse who left the profession, and an emergency physician who counts the exits. Leaving or quit appears in 50 percent of posts in 2017 to 2019 and 64 percent since 2025.

Kate Morin, BSN, a nurse, wrote in January 2024 that “Although he never physically hurt me, the fear from that experience stayed with me,” in “Caring at a cost: workplace violence and my exit from nursing.” Damane Zehra, a resident physician, wrote in February 2025 to Moumita Debnath, MD, a resident killed while on call at RG Kar Medical College in Kolkata in August 2024, that when she is on call alone “I check the door lock of the doctor’s room several times throughout the night,” in “To my beloved sister: Dr. Moumita Debnath.” Devina Maya Wadhwa, a physician, said on The Podcast by KevinMD in March 2025 that “I think there is a culture of silence when it comes to assault and abuse against health care workers,” in “Why abuse in health care is forcing doctors to leave the profession [PODCAST].” Carleigh Beriont and June Zanes Garen, RN, a nurse, with a labor historian, wrote in March 2026 that “We are praised as heroes when it is convenient and left exposed when it is not,” in “Violence against health care workers: the silence must end.” June Zanes Garen, a nurse, said on The Podcast by KevinMD in August 2026 in an episode whose summary says “A nurse survived a violent assault at work, then watched her hospital treat her like a liability, not a victim,” in “Nurses are getting assaulted at work and no one listens [PODCAST].” The American Society of Anesthesiologists, in a statement, wrote in August 2026 that “Victims commonly report anxiety, depression, insomnia, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), emotional exhaustion, and fear of returning to work,” in “Workplace violence in health care demands systemic change.”

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What do physicians disagree about?

On who bullies, Theresa Brown’s op-ed blamed physicians and Kevin Pho, MD, answered that nurses bully nurses and attendings bully trainees. On what counts, Leanne Rowe, MD, says a short temper from sleep deprivation is not bullying and Beth Boynton, RN, MS, CP, says the word bully itself lets us blame one person. On the response to patient violence, Jenica W. Cimino, Lyza Hiltner, RN, Katie E. Raffel, MD, propose trauma-informed care for the patient and Muhamad Aly Rifai, MD, wants it tracked, investigated, and prosecuted with the urgency of school shootings. The record does not resolve these; it dates them.

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What would fix it? What physicians propose.

Asked what would fix violence against health care workers, physicians and nurses on KevinMD propose a response plan in every emergency department, mandatory training of the kind California required in 1993, real security rather than cameras and policies, prosecution, an OSHA standard, accountability for institutions that leave workers exposed, and, until the reforms arrive, skills to survive the shift.

Kevin Pho, MD, wrote in June 2011 that “Medical students need to learn, from the beginning, how to work as members of a team,” in “Hospital bullying requires everyone to share in the blame and solution.” Vidor E. Friedman, MD, an emergency physician and ACEP president, wrote in October 2018 that “Emergency departments should have plans in place for managing potentially violent situations,” in “Violence in the emergency department puts patients and physicians at risk.” Muhamad Aly Rifai, MD, a psychiatrist, wrote in May 2025 that “It should be tracked, investigated, and prosecuted with the same urgency as school shootings or airline threats,” in “When doctors die in silence: Confronting the epidemic of violence against physicians.” Patrick Hudson, MD, a physician, wrote in May 2025 that while we need systemic reform “most of us can’t afford to wait for it,” in “ER threats aren’t rare anymore, they’re routine.” Carleigh Beriont and June Zanes Garen, RN, a nurse, with a labor historian, wrote in March 2026 that “we must also hold institutions that do not support their workers accountable,” in “Violence against health care workers: the silence must end.”

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How has the conversation changed since 2009?

The record starts with Kevin Pho’s short commentaries from 2009 to 2011, 4 of them, counted here but not cited, and with his 2011 op-ed on patient violence, cited. The 2011 to 2016 posts are mostly about bullying among nurses. The 2017 to 2019 posts are the first physician accounts of being attacked and the first figures from ACEP and OSHA. The pandemic years add the threats that came with public health roles and two nurses’ deaths. Since 2023 the record has more than doubled, and its subjects are the exits, the death threats organizations ignored, the OSHA standard that stalled, and the silence. Private equity or staffing is named in 36 percent of the 2025 and 2026 posts.

Two things did not change. Nurse is named in 30 to 100 percent of posts in every period. And the physicians and nurses who describe being attacked still describe being told it was part of the job.

Term	2009 to 2016 (11 posts)	2017 to 2019 (10 posts)	2020 to 2022 (16 posts)	2023 to 2024 (8 posts)	2025 to 2026 (14 posts)
Assault	27 percent	40 percent	38 percent	62 percent	64 percent
Emergency department or ER	73 percent	40 percent	31 percent	25 percent	43 percent
Nurse	100 percent	30 percent	50 percent	75 percent	71 percent
Bullying	64 percent	40 percent	25 percent	0 percent	7 percent
Security	27 percent	20 percent	19 percent	38 percent	50 percent
OSHA	0 percent	10 percent	12 percent	0 percent	14 percent
Underreport or silence	9 percent	20 percent	6 percent	12 percent	43 percent
Leaving or quit	0 percent	50 percent	38 percent	62 percent	64 percent
Pandemic or COVID	0 percent	0 percent	69 percent	12 percent	14 percent
Private equity or staffing	0 percent	0 percent	12 percent	0 percent	36 percent
AI	0 percent	0 percent	0 percent	25 percent	14 percent

Term frequencies are the share of posts in each period whose text contains the term at least once, computed on the September 24, 2026 corpus of 59 posts with one stored expression per term.

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About this record

The KevinMD workplace violence corpus by the numbers

These figures describe the set of KevinMD posts this page draws on. They are counts of what KevinMD has published, not incident data.

Measure	Value
Posts in the corpus	59
Published 2023 or later	22
Published in 2026 (through September)	7
Named contributors	40
Posts bylined by physicians (MD or DO)	33
Podcast episodes with transcripts	8
Posts bylined by nurses	9
Written anonymously	1
Kevin Pho’s early commentaries, counted but not cited	4
Posts not indexed, counted but not cited	5
Most frequent contributors	Harry Severance, MD (3); Kevin Pho, MD (3); Muhamad Aly Rifai, MD (2); Debbie Moore-Black, RN (2); American Society of Anesthesiologists (1)
Title matches routed or excluded	15 with the subject thin in the text; figurative threats, gun violence as public health, domestic violence, and sexual assault of patients were excluded at the title search

How this page was built and how it is updated

The corpus was assembled from title searches for workplace violence, violence against health care workers, doctors, nurses, or the emergency department, violent patients, assault, attacked by a patient, active shooter, death threats, abuse in health care, hostile patients, and bullying, incivility, harassment, or hazing in medicine. Titles about gun violence as a public health subject, domestic and intimate partner violence, sexual assault of patients, child and elder abuse, and figurative threats were excluded; posts whose text mentioned the subject fewer than four times were excluded. Term frequencies were computed against the full text of each post. Posts are counted whether or not they are indexed; citations on this page are limited to posts that are indexed and can be verified at the link. 5 posts in the corpus are not indexed; they are counted but not cited. Quotations are taken verbatim from the original posts and were checked against the source text by script. Author credentials are as they appeared in the byline at publication; where the byline gave none, the credential is the one the post itself states. Nurses, a journalist, a labor historian, a health administrator, and a professional society are cited at the same weight as physicians and identified as such. On September 24, 2026, five posts outside the title search, on narcissistic and administrative abuse inside medicine and on the death of Moumita Debnath, MD, were added to answer questions readers bring to this subject; they were read in full and checked against the same rules, and the counts above were not recomputed. Every source is linked in the sentence that cites it, and the full list appears at the end of the page. No workplace violence tag exists on KevinMD; the closest archives are the Emergency Medicine tag and the Nursing tag. Related records: Nursing: what nurses and physicians say, in their own words, Physician burnout: what physicians say, in their own words, Physicians and administrators: what physicians say about who runs medicine, in their own words, Mental health: what psychiatrists and physicians say, in their own words, and Opioids: what physicians and pain patients say, in their own words.

This page is updated as new essays on violence against health care workers are published on KevinMD. When it is updated, the date at the top changes, the counts in the tables are recomputed, and new named claims are added to the relevant section. Nothing is removed unless the original post is removed. An author who believes a quotation on this page misrepresents them can write to Kevin Pho and the page will be corrected.

To cite this page: Pho K. Violence against health care workers: what physicians and nurses say, in their own words. KevinMD.com. Updated September 24, 2026. https://kevinmd.com/workplace-violence