Ziv Medical Center doctors protest attack against colleague, call for more deterrence; Ziv site of numerous attacks on staff.
By JUDY SIEGEL-ITZKOVICHdoctors operating room 311(photo credit: HBL)
Doctors at Ziv Medical Center in Safed held an hour-long assembly on Sunday to protest against an attack on a colleague over the weekend.Dr. Oscar Embon, the hospital director-general, said that violence against medical staffers reflects the general violence in society and called on the educational system to start to teach zero tolerance for violence.On Shabbat, a former hospital patient returned to the building and cursed, threatened and attacked a physician, acting wildly and spitting in his face. Security personnel prevented the attacker from causing more damage, and a complaint was filed with the police.Ziv has been the site of numerous attacks on medical staffers, but it is not ready to live with either verbal or physical violence, Embon said.“The authorities must deal with these offenses seriously,” he added. “The phenomenon must be uprooted. The Israel Police and the justice system has to take strict action.”Ziv has held workshops for its employees on how to deal with violence and minimize and prevent cases of patients and their relatives attacking under pressure of life-anddeath events.Dr. Radi Shahin, chairman of the Ziv doctors’ works committee, said that medical staffers trained to save lives must not be exposed to violence.“A doctor can’t do his job when he fears being harmed, but one can’t place a guard in every office or install cameras everywhere,” said Shahin.“There must be serious punishment to deter those who think violence is the answer.”
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