Emergency departments: assaults and batteries.

(1) Existing law defines an assault as an unlawful attempt, coupled with present ability, to commit a violent injury on the person of another. Under existing law, an assault committed against a physician or nurse engaged in rendering emergency medical care outside a hospital, clinic, or other health care facility is punishable by imprisonment in a county jail not exceeding one year, by a fine not exceeding $2,000, or by both that fine and imprisonment.