earlier i spoke with karen coughlin, a retired registered nurse who worked for the masshusetts departmental health for 34 years. she's now chair of the massachusetts nurses association's workplace violence and abuse prevention task force. i asked her about her experiences with workplace violence. >> violence threats to physical assault. kicked, punched, spit at, had weapons tried to be used against me. this is not new and i am not the only nurse who has experienced this. it is one of the things i think needs to be addressed. now is the time. it has only increased over the last several years to an alarming rate and something needs to be done because our employers are not keeping us, the patients, the staff, anyone safe. john: were most of these incidents involving patients? >> yes. and typically, i would say statistics and data has shown that the majority of assaults on health care workers are perpetrated from patients. that is not to say that we don't face risks otherwise. we have had assaults from family members, patient on patient assaults, etc.. it does not just affect nurses it affect