Assessing
Workplace Violence Against Lone Workers
In The HealthCare Sector
By Dr. Joshua Sinai
On December 4, 2024, Luigi Nicholas Mangione, 26, of Towson, Maryland,
allegedly intentionally killed UnitedHealthcare executive Brian Thompson,
in Midtown Manhattan. The killing sparked a wave of complaints in
social media about the U.S. healthcare system, whether justified
or not. It highlighted this sector’s vulnerability to being
targeted by some patients/customers who feel aggrieved about the
service and reimbursement they receive or are psychologically troubled
to begin with and express their disorders by lashing out against
their healthcare providers.
This article focuses on the vulnerability of a specific component
of the healthcare sector, those who work remotely from their companies’ main
facilities as they provide medical-related services to patients at
their homes or other facilities.
The risk of workplace violence against a company’s or organization’s
lone workers who perform their healthcare jobs outside their primary
workplace facility, particularly in a client’s home, is categorized
as Workplace Violence, Type II: Patient/Customer-on-Worker. In
this type of workplace violence, an employee is attacked by a hostile
patient at their home or by violent assailants while enroute to
or upon return from such a remote site.
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Assessing
Workplace Violence Against Lone Workers 
