2023 Oklahoma Statutes
Title 63. Public Health and Safety
§63-1-114.3. Hospitals, health clinics and ambulance services – Display of sign warning of crime for assaulting medical professional – Reporting for assaults on medical care providers.

A. Every hospital, health clinic and ambulance service shall display at all times in a prominent place a printed sign with a minimum height of twenty (20) inches and a minimum width of fourteen (14) inches, with each letter to be a minimum of one-fourth (1/4) inch in height, which shall read as follows:

WARNING: ASSAULTING A MEDICAL PROFESSIONAL WHO IS ENGAGED IN THE PERFORMANCE OF HIS OR HER OFFICIAL DUTIES IS A SERIOUS CRIME. Section 650.4 of Title 21 of the Oklahoma Statutes.

B. Every hospital, health clinic and ambulance service shall report by January 31 all assaults for the prior year on all medical care providers in the facility, on facility property, or while performing duties in an official capacity to the State Department of Health on an annual basis without any identifying information regarding the individual who was assaulted or who committed the assault. The following data shall be provided to the Department:

1. An aggregate number of individuals assaulted annually;

2. The type of assault, either verbal, physical, and/or sexual;

3. Role of the perpetrator, either coworker, patient, or patient's family; and

4. Location of the assault.

The State Department of Health shall have rulemaking authority to implement the provisions of this section.

C. The State Department of Health shall not make public any identifiable information in regard to facility, individual or location of assaults, if such information is received. The Department shall publish on its website, on an annual basis, aggregate numbers for the data collected pursuant to subsection B of this section.

Added by Laws 2020, c. 68, § 4, eff. Nov. 1, 2020. Amended by Laws 2023, c. 140, § 3, eff. Nov. 1, 2023.