COVID-19 caused a rally that raised concerns about noise and patient privacy.
(Alhardman | Salt Lake Tribune) In 2017, protesters gathered outside the George E. Warren Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Salt Lake City. The proposed Salt Lake City Ordinance will limit demonstrations near medical facilities.
Salt Lake City will soon be a move aimed at protecting patient privacy, which could limit protests in front of medical facilities.
In a draft ordinance submitted to the city council on Tuesday, city policy adviser Weston Clark said medical facilities have been the subject of demonstrations for the past few years.
He said those rallies disturbed peace, affected neighbors, disrupted business, and violated patient privacy.
“This ordinance protects the rights of demonstrators to the First Amendment to Freedom of Speech, the right of individuals to access medical care unimpeded, and the right of neighboring companies and residents to operate. “We have a balance between them,” Clark told members of the council. And live in peace. “
If the ordinance is adopted, it prohibits demonstrations within 15 feet of the entrance to the medical facility and prohibits unreasonably loud noises within 30 feet of the facility after being ordered to stop or turn down the volume. , The use of sound amplifiers within 50 feet is prohibited. Of such facilities.
Also, if the patient indicates that he or she does not want to speak, the patient is entitled to at least 10 feet of space between the patient and the protester.
The city claims a legitimate interest in protecting residents from the fear of violence and harassment, and the unpleasant noise that interferes with medical care. The distances in the proposed ordinance reflect the distances endorsed by courts elsewhere.
Clark didn’t say exactly why the ordinance was drafted, but Cindy Gusto Jenson, the secretary-general of the city council, said the city had heard from people about pandemic-related demonstrations.
Opinions on COVID-19 and government regulations “caused a bit of confusion in hospital settings and more,” she said during the meeting.
The city also heard concerns about well-meaning demonstrations, such as those that showed support for frontline workers.
“It’s hard to get in,” she said, “if you just lost a loved one.”
Mike Brown, chief of the Salt Lake City Police Department, said police officers have the discretion to enforce the ordinance, including issuing warnings, issuing citations, and putting offenders in jail. He said he hoped that explaining the ordinance to demonstrators would lead to voluntary compliance.
John Messiah, director of the Legal Department of the Associated State of Utah, said he had never seen the ordinance, but there are situations in which the law limiting the rights of the First Amendment to the Constitution can withstand scrutiny. He said the government has a keen interest in protecting those seeking medical care.
“We are always concerned when the government imposes restrictions on First Amendment speeches, but that does not mean that there are no circumstances in which we deem them appropriate.”
The ordinance will vote for the city council on Tuesday.
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