MA nurses seek protection from workplace violence

Telling lawmakers of violent attacks at the hospitals where they work, nurses on Thursday advocated for legislation requiring health care employers to put a bigger emphasis on worker safety, the State House News Service reported. "There was one nurse that I knew that was almost choked to death when a patient was hiding in an alcove up on the psych unit," Kathy Metzger, a registered nurse retired after decades at Brockton Hospital, told the Committee on Public Safety and Homeland Security. "She was walking to take care of another patient. He came out at her and brought her towards the ground. And she's no longer working because of neck and back injuries from it."