2024-10-08 18:54:28
Some speak of episodes of violence “punctual”. Other incivilities “recurring”the stresses “latent”. But almost all the caregivers contacted agree on one observation: even if it still seems difficult for them to make an official complaint, the attacks they may suffer from patients during consultations are no longer passed over in silence as in the past.
Insults, threats, physical assaults, thefts, vandalism, etc.: 1,581 incidents were reported in 2023 to the National Council of the Medical Association, which carries out the annual census. Compared to the 120,000 private doctors, or the 60,000 hospital practitioners, the figure weighs little. But in the twenty years that the Order has been carrying out this investigation, this is the first time that the increase has been so strong: it reaches 27% between 2022 and 2023 – after having already increased by 23% the previous year.
“This is unprecedented, said Dr. Jean-Jacques Avrane, coordinator of the Order’s Security Observatory, presenting these data to the press on Tuesday 8 October. And the figures are completely understated, the vast majority of practitioners do not declare it [les violences subies], this is only the visible side of the iceberg. » The National Observatory on Violence in the Healthcare Environment, an organization headed by the Ministry of Health and which takes hospital reports into account, recorded 18,768 reports from 368 facilities in 2022. Its results for 2023 are not yet known.
General practitioners are the most targeted
In the world of healthcare, several recent attacks have left their mark. In Marseille, on August 12, a general practitioner was beaten. Near Nantes, in September, a doctor was subjected to an attempted rape. Almost eighteen months ago, the attack on a nurse, Carène Mezino, who was stabbed to death in the university hospital of Reims, aroused national emotions and led the government to promise “zero tolerance”accompanied by a plan of around forty measures.
Women, according to data from the Medical Association, are slightly overrepresented, and represent 56% of the victims declared, in 2023 as in 2022. The type of incidents reported remains stable: almost three quarters (73%) fall into the verbal sphere attacks or threats, 8% mention physical attacks, 8% thefts or attempted thefts, 7% vandalism… Almost three quarters of the attacks targeted liberals and 22% hospital workers.
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