Attack on doctors: “The issue of access to care is one of the elements that contributes to this violence”, analyses the vice-president of the MG France union

Following the attack on a doctor in Marseille in mid-August, ten unions of independent doctors, including MG France, deplored on Tuesday an “alarming” and “unacceptable” increase in violence against practitioners.

“I think that the issue of access to care is one of the elements that contributes to this violence”analysis on France Inter Wednesday August 28 Margot Bayart, vice-president of the MG France union and general practitioner in Tarn. After the attack on a doctor in Marseille in mid-August, ten unions of liberal doctors, including MG France, deplored on Tuesday an increase “alarming” And “unacceptable” violence against practitioners, and called on the executive to take “urgent measures to protect them”.

“I see the violence increasing”the doctor testifies, “the pressure is mounting” especially because of the “request for immediacy” patient care, requiring a prescription or seeing a doctor “immediately”when they present themselves in an office or in the emergency room. “Secretaries are very exposed and we regularly need to intervene”she explains.

“Behind the aggression, there is anxiety”according to her, “and the idea is to express the suffering that is behind it” to calm aggressive patients. She explains this violence in particular by “the question of access to care which is one of the elements which contributes to this violence”because some patients cannot get treatment and become worried.

However, “It’s intolerable for a colleague to be beaten up.”the vice-president of the MG France union is indignant. With these attacks, “there is a real risk of worsening medical desertification, particularly in certain sectors.”

She therefore calls for several measures to address the violence. First, “regulation”as in emergencies, when calls and care are filtered over the phone beforehand, to avoid congestion. Then, “education of the population”because “The resource is scarce, so it must be used wisely”people need to “know where to call” when they encounter a health problem. And finally, security, with responses and links established with law enforcement when necessary and sanctions for patients who attack health personnel.