Italy Increases Penalties for Assaulting Healthcare Workers
Nurse attacked by relatives of a patient in the emergency room of Castellammare di Stabia. X/ @Rotelli_MD
September 27, 2024 Hour: 9:02 am
This is a response to the recent escalation of violence against medical staff by patients, relatives, or acquaintances of the sick.
On Friday, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni approved a decree to increase penalties against those who assault healthcare personnel.
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It establishes an increase in prison sentences of up to five years and mandatory arrest in cases of “flagrant offense,” explained Justice Minister Carlo Nordio at a press conference following the Cabinet meeting.
The decree alsoi introduces fines of up to 10,000 euros for those who commit acts of violence, destroy furniture or equipment, or cause damage to healthcare infrastructure. This is another measure by the Meloni administration aimed at curbing a trend that recently led some sectors to call for military intervention in hospitals.
According to Nordio, this decree is intended to have “a deterrent effect” in response to the recent escalation of violence against medical staff by patients, relatives, or acquaintances of the sick.
This situation has worsened in hospitals across the country in recent months, with healthcare workers’ representative bodies denouncing it as the worst wave of attacks in the last decade.
In its meeting on Friday, the Cabinet also agreed to implement a system of security cameras in healthcare centers as an additional measure to prevent and track violent incidents that may occur.
“It is intolerable that those who work with such sacrifice in clinics and emergency rooms are attacked and beaten, and that essential environments like hospitals are being devastated,” Nordio added.
The cameras will help identify aggressors so they can be arrested up to two days later, as the new decree allows for delayed detention within a 48-hour window.
teleSUR/ JF Source: EFE
