First publication: This coming Sunday, a bill is expected to be submitted to the Ministerial Committee for Legislative Affairs to increase the punishment for attackers of medical staff, following the media attack on dozens of clan members of the medical staff at Hadassah Hospital on Mount Scopus about a week ago.
In the same incident, staff in the intensive care unit were attacked by family members who were outraged that their relatives had died.
2 staff members needed medical treatment and the rioters caused extensive and deliberate damage to medical equipment and the hospital.
According to the bill, which is submitted by MK Professor Yossi Shein (Yisrael Beiteinu) in the event of an attack on a medical staff while on duty, the sentence will be 6 years in prison and include a minimum sentence of six months imprisonment, so that in each case the conviction will be behind bars: "This bill comes to secure a heavy punishment for anyone who commits this criminal conduct.
"This is a punishment of a deterrent nature, in order to prevent this intolerable and acceptable phenomenon, which has no place in a reformed country," the proposal reads.
MK Yossi Shein on the attack on the teams: "The phenomenon has no place in a reformed country",
The law also states that "recently we have witnessed repeated attacks on medical staff by patients and their families. This is an illegal phenomenon that should be condemned and a deterrent punishment mechanism established to stimulate. The medical staff do sacred work. Their dedication to their work and patients is evident in long and intense shifts. "Days and nights are almost restless and it obliges us to protect them in every way possible."
According to data from the Ministry of Health that reached Israel Today, physical violence against medical staff occurs almost every day. Since the beginning of the year, there have been 110 cases of assault and physical violence against medical staff, and 1,675 cases of verbal violence, threats or damage to property.
This means that each day since the beginning of the year there were an average of 12.5 cases of verbal violence and 0.8 cases of physical assault.
Data from the past three years show that in 2019 there were 333 cases of physical and assault violence against medical staff and security guards, and 6,015 cases of verbal violence, threats and causing harm.
The eruption of the corona in 2020 did not lead to a significant change in trend: 306 cases of physical assault and 5,616 cases of verbal violence, threats and property damage were recorded this year.
In 2021 there were 313 cases of physical assault and 6,505 cases of verbal violence, threats and property damage.
Were we wrong?
Fixed!
If you found an error in the article, we'll be happy for you to share it with us
