doctors warn of attacks against them

Doctor Natacha Regensberg de Andreis, general practitioner in Paris, has already suffered two attacks in her office. A first time, she was slapped by the mother of a patient, then a second time a patient tried to strangle her and bit her. According to the Order of Physicians, which published a report on the subject on Tuesday July 26, acts of violence have more than doubled in ten years. In 2021, 1,009 attacks were recorded, but many doctors do not file a complaint.

Some adopt techniques to defend themselves. “We learn, for example, not to take a patient we don’t know last, at the end of the day”, explains Natacha Regensberg de Andreis. Another precaution is to open the doors when other patients are in the waiting room, or to check who is ringing the doorbell. Doctors’ representatives encourage practitioners to lodge complaints, and want violent behavior by patients to be recorded in medical records.