Pressing Assault Charges WITHOUT disclosing your full Name??

MunoRN, RN · May 19, 2015

With the exception of sexual assault, you generally can't press criminal charges anonymously where you are the primary witness or victim of the crime. This is because the 6th amendment of the constitution requires that the accused have right to confront their accuser. How would you go about proving the person's guilt while also remaining anonymous?

MrChicagoRN, RN · May 19, 2015

Every person who has to file charges against a violent person may have similar concerns.

Although you do have to give your name, if it's work related, give your work address as your address. You do not have to give your home address (or SSN)

heron, ASN, RN · May 19, 2015

What Muno said ... plus, the whole concept of anonymous accusations of criminal behavior pretty much creeps me out. Very Big Brother.

suzy12 · May 19, 2015

Oh wow thats terrible! Does the patient have capacity? I know in the UK that violence of any form towards a healthcare professional is not tolerated, and can carry a 5 year custodial sentence even if the person has mental health but was deemed to have capacity. I take it america is different, do you not datix or report assaults in your workplace as well?

MunoRN, RN · May 20, 2015

Oh wow thats terrible! Does the patient have capacity? I know in the UK that violence of any form towards a healthcare professional is not tolerated, and can carry a 5 year custodial sentence even if the person has mental health but was deemed to have capacity. I take it america is different, do you not datix or report assaults in your workplace as well?

It's not any different in the US than in the UK. The "confrontation clause" in our Constitution that prohibits someone from being found guilty of a crime without ever knowing who made the accusations or being able to question them in your defense actually comes from English common law and is still a basic premise of law in the UK.

heron, ASN, RN · May 20, 2015

What is different, maybe, is that health care companies often actively discourage employees from reporting assaults and provide little to no support in defending ourselves.

KelRN215, BSN, RN · May 20, 2015

Does anyone know if there is any legal way to file assault charges against an assaultive patient without having to disclose your full name? This is extremely worrisome in this particular case because the patient has a violent criminal history. I can't believe that there is not a law in place to protect health care workers privacy in these cases! Any help or direction would be greatly appreciated!

How would the government go about prosecuting someone for assault based on an anonymous complaint? The accused have the right to confront their accuser.

BrandonLPN, LPN · May 20, 2015

I understand why victims of abuse might wish to remain anonymous, but defendants have a right to know who is pressing charges against them. How could they respond to the charges and defend themselves if they don't even know who the other party is?

suzy12 · May 20, 2015

I would speak to your DON, report this incident in his notes so other nurses are guarded, do you have any injury? If you do take a photo. You say this patient has a very violent criminal history. If he gets off with this and nothing is reported anywhere and am not meaning pressing charges , just reporting it in his health notes or datix the event. As everyone says on here you cannot press charges anonymously, but you can report it somewhere i would imagine. Here we do datix and the patient does not know. But datix can be built up and used as evidence if something worse was to kick off.

in the long run without anything being reported , it this could cause problems for another nurse. I can imagine this might be frightening for you but you need support from your work.