In response to a wave of violent assaults on HCPs across the country, Italy has decided to deploy the army to protect doctors and nurses at a hospital in the Calabria region of Southern Italy. This area has been particularly affected by frequent attacks on HCPs. In one recent incident, nearly 50 relatives and friends assaulted doctors and nurses at a hospital after the death of a 23-year-old woman during emergency surgery . Some of the HCPs were injured, even after barricading themselves in a room to escape the violence.
The hospital’s director reported that three similar assaults had occurred within a week. In 2013 alone, over 16,000 physical and verbal assault cases were reported in Italy. A shortage of HCPs and long waiting lists are seen as critical drives of this violence. The Italian Federation of Medical-Scientific Societies has proposed stringent penalties for offenders,…
