BILL NUMBER: S9548
SPONSOR: RYAN C
 
TITLE OF BILL:
An act to amend the public health law, in relation to the identification
of individuals who provide face-to-face care to or direct observation of
a patient; and to amend the criminal procedure law, in relation to
requiring complainants to only submit their employer's address in cases
involving an alleged offense against a hospital worker
 
PURPOSE OR GENERAL IDEA OF BILL:
This bill allows hospital staff involved in direct patient care to be
identified to the public only by employee identification number, first
name and first initial of their last name, when their identification by
last name might place the personal safety of the staff in jeopardy.
 
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:
Section 1 modifies Public Health Law Section 2803(1)(g)(v) to permit the
use of the last initial of a hospital employee's name instead of their
full last name on their identification badge and in medical records
provided to a patient.
Section 2 amends Criminal Procedure Law 100.15(1) to permit a criminal
complainant who is a person who provides face-to-face care to or obser-
vation of a patient in a hospital to use the address of the hospital in
their complaint.
Section 3 establishes the effective date.
 
DIFFERENCE BETWEEN ORIGINAL AND AMENDED VERSION (IF APPLICABLE):
Section 2 has been added.
 
JUSTIFICATION:
Hospitals are dangerous places to work. Hospital workers experience five
times more workplace violence than the average American worker. An aver-
age of two nurses an hour are physically assaulted at work in the United
States. A 2024 survey by the American College of Emergency Physicians
found that 9196- of respondents reported having been attacked or threat-
ened in the past year.
Besides immediate physical assaults on hospital staff, there is a grow-
ing incidence of cyberattacks and doxing of health care providers. Inci-
dents of online harassment are reported to have doubled since the COVID
pandemic. Practitioners who provide vaccines, abortions and gender-af-
firming care are most vulnerable; many have had their home addresses and
the names of their spouses and children published online, placing them
in danger from extremists. State law requires that all hospital staff
must be identified by first and last name on their badges, subjecting
them to online searches by aggrieved patients. This bill would allow
hospital workers, who are on the front lines of patient care for people
who are traumatized, intoxicated, stressed or undergoing a mental health
break down, to keep their last names private when their personal safety
may be in jeopardy. Vindictive patients should not be able to track down
hospital staff online to harass or dox them.
 
PRIOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:
New bill
 
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS FOR STATE AND LOCAL GOVERNMENTS:
None
 
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect on the one hundred twentieth day after it
shall have become a law.

Statutes affected:
S9548: 2803 public health law, 2803(1) public health law, 100.15 criminal procedure law, 100.15(1) criminal procedure law