As of: January 29, 2024, 1:05 p.m
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A sign reading “Emergency Room” hangs on a hospital.
© Julian Stratenschulte/dpa/Symbolbild
Paramedics, nurses and doctors are increasingly experiencing aggression and violence in hospitals.
Senator Spranger sees this as a problematic “overall development”.
Berlin - Attacks and threats against paramedics and nursing staff in Berlin hospitals have increased sharply in recent years.
The police registered 194 cases of physical injuries and assaults last year.
That was significantly more than in 2022 with 162 such acts.
Interior Senator Iris Spranger (SPD) told the Interior Committee on Monday that in five years the number of police operations in and in front of clinics had increased by 40 percent.
“This is a development that concerns me very much.
It symbolizes an overall development: aggression and violence towards those who keep this city running.”
Video showed attack
A video-documented attack on a doctor and two nurses in an emergency room in Lichtenberg on New Year's Eve caused a great stir and outrage.
This film shows increasing aggression and “massive brutality,” says Spranger.
“The police are increasingly having to intervene in and at hospitals to resolve conflicts.”
The “Tagesspiegel” reported on Saturday that the clinics said most operations took place in the rescue centers.
Drunken patients, psychiatric cases and aggressive extended families often played a role.
Spranger went on to say that unfortunately this is a problem throughout Germany.
In addition to attacks on hospital staff, other professional groups are also faced with increasing violence: teachers, police officers, firefighters and employees of transport companies and public order offices.
Senator: Long waiting times are no excuse for violence
Because members of the Left criticized long waiting times in emergency rooms in this context, Spranger replied: “Even if you have to wait longer, one thing must never be tolerated: violence against doctors, nurses or other patients.” Many incidents also involve drugs and alcohol to do.
But you can't automatically put a police car in front of every hospital, said Spranger in response to questions about more protection.
Health Senator Ina Czyborra (SPD) recently told the “Tagesspiegel”: “We have to be concerned that, for fear of being threatened, decisions are not always made based on medical criteria, but someone might be preferred.” these are aggressive relatives of certain patients.
Police: Attacks are a year-round problem
Police Chief Barbara Slowik said attacks in hospitals were unfortunately not just a problem on New Year's Eve, but all year round.
The clinics are affected very differently.
“There is a lot of variation.
Many are not affected at all, others are very severely affected.” Solutions and prevention therefore have to be very individual.
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Regarding a total of almost 12,000 police operations in and around Berlin's hospitals, Slowik emphasized that this number also included traffic accidents, thefts, administrative offenses and other smaller crimes that had little to do with the hospitals.
Fire chief Karsten Homrighausen said that the problems often begin when answering emergency calls on number 122. Callers there are aggressive, the violence is initially expressed verbally and then ends in concrete and real terms towards the paramedics.
On average, the fire department has counted 150 to 200 attacks on rescue workers in recent years.
In addition, there would be a high number of unreported cases because many paramedics would not report all incidents.
dpa