Health care worker anti-doxxing bill heads to governor following House approval

Del. Matthew Rohrbach, R-Cabell, speaks in favor of SB 477 during the House floor session on Wednesday, March 6, 2024. (Perry Bennett | West Virginia Legislative Photography)

A bill to prohibit the doxxing of health care workers and their families is on its way to Gov. Jim Justice’s desk this week following approval from the House of Delegates on Wednesday.

Senate Bill 477 would make it illegal to publicly publish online any identifying information — including addresses, phone numbers and photos, among other things — for several types of health care workers with the intent to “threaten, intimidate, or incite” violence against them. The bill passed the Senate unanimously in January, and the House approved the bill 93-2 with five members absent and not voting on Wednesday.

If enacted, those who violate the law could be fined up to $500 and jailed for six months on a first offense. On a subsequent offense, penalties would increase up to $1,000 and a year in jail.

The proposed law also allows health care workers to request that government entities remove any identifying information about them from the internet. Those requests must be accompanied by a written and notarized statement showing the worker has reason to believe they could be in danger if their information remains public, as well as proof that they are a health care worker.

During discussion of the bill on the floor Wednesday, Del. Heather Tully, R-Nicholas, spoke vehemently against the legislation, asserting that it’s already illegal in most cases to threaten, intimidate or incite violence against anyone, whether online or otherwise, no matter their job.

“I think this bill is largely unneeded,” said Tully, who is a nurse by trade, after making a motion to send the bill to the House Committee on Government Organization. Doing so would have essentially killed the bill for this session. Her motion was rejected 89-6 by members.

SB 477, as it was originally introduced, was modeled after a piece of legislation in Colorado. There, the state adopted a similar law protecting public health professionals in 2021 in response to threats made regularly during the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2022, Colorado lawmakers expanded the bill to cover all health care workers, Child Protective Service employees as well as code enforcers.

The West Virginia Hospital Association marked the bill as a legislative priority before the start of session as part of its efforts to recruit and retain health care workers in the state. While threats to health care workers are not new, Hospital Association Executive Director Jim Kaufman has said that they started to increase in West Virginia and nationwide during the pandemic.

Tully did not agree with that, saying that the “average” health care worker “doesn’t worry about this kind of thing.”

“It’s not anything that moves the needle,” Tully continued. “What it is, is for the Hospital Association, quite honestly, to feel good about themselves, like they’re doing something for their frontline employees without really having to do anything that is meaningful.”

Other delegates pushed back on Tully’s assertions. Del. Adam Burkhammer, R-Lewis, said while he “appreciate[d]” Tully’s “passion,” there is a “real threat” to people in the health care field when doxxing takes place. He said constituents have called and asked for protections against these kinds of actions.

Del. Matthew Rohrbach, R-Cabell, said he’s seen the impact of doxxing firsthand as a doctor, even as other laws are on the books that prohibit acts of harassment and intimidation.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, he said, a patient from Wood County was transferred to Cabell County for treatment due to overcrowding in area hospitals.

“That young man was put on a ventilator. It saved his life,” Rohrbach said. “He was in the hospital for about six weeks, but he’s alive today to tell the story.”

When the patient was transferred to Cabell, however, a group of protesters began coming to the hospital to speak against his care and the pulmonologist treating him. They claimed that a “medical kidnapping” had occurred, despite the fact that this doctor did not “seek this patient out” and he was only receiving treatment in Cabell because of a lack of beds in other hospitals.

“So, what happened when this group made the decision — on their own — that medical kidnapping was occurring? And to [Tully’s previous points], yes what happened was against the law, but I want to tell you why we need this bill and why we need to focus on it,” Rohrbach said. “This physician was stalked, his contact information was put on the internet, on social media. He had to get a new cell phone. People went to his house and protested outside.”

The physician, Rohrbach continued, ultimately made the decision to leave West Virginia due to the harassment he and his family faced.

“Now, if anybody sitting in this chamber doesn’t think this is occurring, they’re mistaken. Come down to my district and I’ll show you where it occurred,” Rohrbach said. “The state of West Virginia lost a very skilled, board certified pulmonologist over this, and it’s high time that this stops.”

SB 477 will now go to the governor’s desk, where it can be signed, vetoed or become law without a signature.

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