The profession calls for a “dead health” day in Nîmes, Friday, after the assault of a general practitioner earlier this week. Women doctors are more and more victims of violence, as attacks on the medical profession increase.
A female doctor was assaulted on Monday while she was going to a patient for a home consultation, in the Pissevin district of Nîmes. A man hit her on the ground in an attempt to steal her bag. An attack which is worth to the general practitioner five days of total incapacity for work (ITT).
An investigation is underway to determine whether this woman was assaulted because of her job. But the event still provoked outrage in the profession, which calls for a “dead health” day on Friday in protest.
Violence against the medical profession explodes
The doctors are fed up with an explosion in the number of violence against the medical profession. Very recently, the National Council of the Order of Physicians (Cnom) published a study. In 2017, more than 1,000 healthcare professionals were attacked. A record level.
And in recent months, there are many examples. In March, a man, seized with a “stroke of madness”, injured six persons in the emergency department of Riom hospital (Puy-de-Dôme). The situation is such that the Ordre des médecins d’Île-de-France has developed a smartphone application, called Reporty, which allows you to discreetly call for help in the event of an assault in the office.
The profession is feminized
There is an increase in assaults on female doctors, too. In June 2017, for example, a nurse was assaulted by a patient in the emergency room in Meaux. This trend parallels the feminization of the trade, in progress for several years. In 2015, they represented 53% of active physicians under the age of 55.
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