The attacks are not declining in France. In 2015, 924 verbal or physical attacks on doctors were reported. GPs are the main victims.
Medicine, a profession in danger? Safety is in any case not guaranteed for many health professionals. In 2015, 924 incidents were listed by the Physician Safety Observatory. The Order of Physicians, which published this October 18 these results bear witness to stability since 2010. In some regions, including Île-de-France, violence is receding. Urban areas remain much more affected.
Practitioners pay the price for a verbal or physical attack, but also for attempted theft. Oral violence clearly dominates: it represents 69% of declarations. A positive trend is emerging, however. Weapons are used less and less.
GPs at the front
Since 2010, declarations have stabilized in a high range. Jacques Battistoni, general secretary of the MG France union, sees this as witness to a general development. “Public speech is desecrated, just like the professionals who represented a certain form of authority,” he explains to Why actor. We are both the witnesses and the victims. The causes of the attacks confirm this rise in tensions. In the majority of cases, the aggressors complain about the assumption of responsibility (33%), refusals of prescription (16%) and excessive waiting times (9%).
The doctor is therefore no longer the authority figure he once represented. As a result, they no longer enjoy the protection they once enjoyed. “The violence which increases in the company also enters the hospitals and the offices of the nurses in town”, notes Christophe Prudhomme, emergency doctor at the Avicenne hospital of Bobigny (Seine-Saint-Denis). The patients are showing increasing vindictiveness.
Christophe Prudhomme, emergency doctor in Bobigny: ” At the hospital, reception conditions are degraded. In the city, it is difficult to find a doctor within a reasonable time. “
The first victims of this situation are general practitioners. They constitute 65% of assaults, far ahead of other specialties. No wonder they are at the forefront of care. “We are the doctors most in contact with an often disadvantaged population that does not have recourse to specialists,” explains Jacques Battistoni. Among specialists, those who have been assaulted can be surprising. Ophthalmologists, occupational physicians and psychiatrists are the most represented.
Strengthen security
Regionally, the North and the Bouches-du-Rhône clearly dominate, ahead of Isère and Seine-Maritime. In Île-de-France, on the other hand, several departments are experiencing a decline, even if violence remains frequent.
Unsurprisingly, city centers and suburbs are the areas most affected by the violence. Consultations at the hospital are also less numerous in the declarations. This particularity poses a problem. It is indeed difficult to protect a liberal doctor who practices alone in his office. Without going so far as to install cameras, Dr Battistoni suggests putting in place “security and warning devices that can help strengthen the feeling of security”.
Jacques Battistoni, general practitioner in Ifs: ” We must step up the movement to bring together professionals who want it. It’s easier to secure a group. “
On the hospital side, Christophe Prudhomme is severe towards the latest proposals from Marisol Touraine. The Minister of Health has released 25 million euros to strengthen security in health establishments. The spokesperson for the Association of Emergency Physicians of France (AMUF) calls for a completely different arrangement. He wants to strengthen the presence of security personnel among the hospital staff. “We need specific training and continuity that is not allowed by successive calls for tenders,” he denounces.
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