A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT to increase the criminal penalty for assault on a patient in a health care facility or resident of a residential care facility when the conduct evinces a pattern of behavior, is willful or culpably negligent, and causes bodily injury to the patient or resident.
The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:
SECTION 1.  G.S. 14‑32.2(b) reads as rewritten:
"(b)	Unless the conduct is prohibited by some other provision of law providing for greater punishment,
(1)	A violation of subsection (a) above is a Class C felony where intentional conduct proximately causes the death of the patient or resident;
(2)	A violation of subsection (a) above is a Class E felony where culpably negligent conduct proximately causes the death of the patient or resident;
(3)	A violation of subsection (a) above is a Class F felony where such conduct is willful or culpably negligent and proximately causes serious bodily injury to the patient or  resident;
(4)	A violation of subsection (a) is a Class F felony where such conduct evinces a pattern of conduct and the conduct is willful or culpably negligent and proximately causes bodily injury to a patient or resident."
SECTION 2.  This act becomes effective December 1, 2007, and applies to offenses committed on or after that date.