Medical staff would be forgiven a shiver of apprehension when they pull on
their uniforms and head into casualty departments across Northern Ireland.
As the latest incident shows, their chances of becoming a victim of assault
are disturbingly high.
This week, a doctor at Altnagelvin hospital
in Londonderry was punched by a patient he was tending. The blow knocked him
to the floor, leaving him stunned.
Sadly, there is nothing unusual
in this. But the fact that the doctor had been working in the casualty
department for just a month underlines the sheer frequency of these kind of
appalling attacks.
Doctors' leaders are, once again, calling for
aggressive implementation of the 'zero tolerance' policies on such attackers
that have recently been introduced across Northern Ireland.
Health
Minister Michael McGimpsey launched the initiative but doctors' leaders and
trade unions want the Government to go further. They say only immediate
custodial sentences for assaults, and £1,000 fines for verbal abuse of
staff, will send the message that the law means business.
With
every new attack, it gets harder to disagree with their stance.
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