Assaults and incidents reported by doctors are up 27% in 2023, according to the Physician Safety Observatory

The doctors attacked are mainly general practitioners (64%), more often women (56%), attacked in their practice, and more in the city center, notes the Observatory in its annual report.

Assaults and incidents declared by doctors are up 27% in 2023, according to the report of the Physician Safety Observatory published each year by the Order of Physicians. 1,581 incidents were recorded via incident report forms completed by doctors, mostly general practitioners, compared to 1,244 reports in 2022.

Three quarters (73%) of the attacks recorded are verbal attacks, threats or insults. In 8% of cases, these are physical attacks, sometimes impressive, such as this doctor bitten by a patient in Marseille, or this practitioner who received two bullets in the thigh in Lille, specifies the Order of Physicians. In 62% of reported incidents, the attacker is a patient. Most of the time, the reasons are linked to a criticism of the treatment, a refusal of a prescription, or a waiting time considered excessive.

The doctors attacked are mainly general practitioners (64%), more often women (56%), attacked in their practice, and more often in the city center. As for specialists, the first victims are psychiatrists, followed by ophthalmologists, occupational medicine, gynecologists and cardiologists, specialties for which it is difficult to find an appointment.

Among the regions most affected by these attacks, in terms of number of incidents reported: Hauts-de-France (242), the PACA region (212) and Nouvelle Aquitaine (202). Then follow Ile-de-France (193), Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes (170), Occitanie (147), Normandy (96), Grand-Est (65), Pays de la Loire (63), Centre-Val de Loire (62), Bourgogne-Franche Comté (46), Brittany (44), DROM-COM (36), and finally Corsica with a single reported case.

According to the Order of Physicians, the number of reports recorded in 2023 is largely underestimated. However, it is two to three times more than ten years ago. 638 reports were recorded in 2003, 439 in 2004. The Order of Physicians encourages victims to systematically file a complaint and is also campaigning to generalize the “push button” system allowing health professionals to report a dangerous situation and obtain aid within a short time frame, already in place in Guyana, Haute-Vienne and Nice. A bill “aimed at strengthening the safety of health professionals”, tabled in January 2024 and adopted by the National Assembly in March, must still be debated by the Senate.