Violence strikes the health system again

The nurse avoided being injured.

By JUDY SIEGEL-ITZKOVICH
Nurse writing prescriptions (illustrative). (photo credit: INGIMAGE)
Nurse writing prescriptions (illustrative).
(photo credit: INGIMAGE)
Some two weeks after a Holon health-clinic nurse was burned to death by a dissatisfied patient, personnel at two hospitals were threatened with violence but remained unhurt.
Dr. Ronen Maas, a fourth-year resident at Tel Aviv Sourasky Medical Center, was told by an elderly, seriously ill patient’s relative while on night duty over the weekend that “One of us will not remain alive.” He and other relatives “went wild,” Maas said.
“I dreamed of being a doctor to save people, to treat patients and give them the best care,” he recalled on Monday.
“I never dreamed that I would have to face a murder threat, with physical and verbal violence of patients and relatives, with personal insults and language suitable to the underworld."
"It’s frightening and certainly unpleasant. Instead of treating patients, we are forced to hide in a room and stand next to a policeman. Enough is enough!” But the young doctor said that, despite the threat of violence, he would not be deterred from treating patients devotedly.
Hospital director Prof. Ronni Gamzu called the police, who arrested those involved. Sourasky would not put up with such incidents, he said.
“They think that with violence they will relieve their frustration [over their relative’s condition], but it is not the answer,” Gamzu said. “The death of nurse Tova Karero in Holon has not changed anything. We continue to daily see verbal and physical violence. I call on the police and the courts to take harsh action. Punishments must be more severe.”
Meanwhile, a nurse at Assaf Harofeh Medical Center in Tzrifin was also attacked Monday by a patient who got angry and threw a computer monitor at her.
The nurse avoided being injured.