More attacks on hospital staff

According to the report, dozens of violent attacks take place at Rambam every year, and staff are fearful for their lives.

By MIRIAM BULWAR DAVID-HAY
Rambam Hospital security staff and police are worried about an increasing number of attacks on hospital staff by patients or their families, reports Yediot Haifa. They say it is just a matter of time before a doctor or security guard is seriously injured, and that the courts are at fault for releasing arrested assailants too quickly. According to the report, dozens of violent attacks take place at Rambam every year, and staff are fearful for their lives. In one recent incident, a man apparently unhappy with the way his wife was being treated in the emergency room threatened the medical staff and then began throwing objects at them, including medical files and vials of blood he grabbed from other patients. When police arrived, two younger men came to his assistance and attacked the officers. Police arrested the older man and one of the younger men, and the other young man fled but was later arrested. Yet all three were released on house arrest by the courts. "This was just one incident out of many," a hospital spokesman said. "We are witnesses to a rise in the number of violent incidents, and the security staff are in a daily fight for their lives against criminals and violent patients." The spokesman noted that many people arrived in the emergency room in a state of stress, but some "do not know how to release it positively," while others may be drunk or on drugs. Police and security staff criticized the criminal justice system for allowing people charged with violent crimes to be put on house arrest or granted bail.