Deputy director of state hospital calls on authorities to ensure that the attacker is quickly punished.
By JUDY SIEGEL-ITZKOVICHHospital Beds 311(photo credit: Courtesy)
A patient physically attacked a doctor and nurse in the emergency room of Hadera’s Hillel Yaffe Medical Center on Saturday night, resulting in them filing a complaint with the police.A Hadera resident in his 30s came to the ER after suffering a dog bite. He was given a preliminary examination and asked to wait for an orthopedist to arrive. The man started to shout and curse on his cellphone, without consideration for the medical staff and other patients.The nurse on duty asked him to lower his tone of voice, triggering a violent reaction by the man, who cursed and spat at her. A doctor who was near the nurse tried to defend his colleague, but the man slapped him powerfully on his face. A hospital security guard overcame the attacker, as the man continued to act out wildly. He was removed from the ER as the police arrived and took the complaint.Dr. Michael Dudkevich, the deputy director of the state hospital, said that the nurse and doctor were fortunately not physically injured – but they were shocked, anxious and suffered emotional trauma.Adding that the number of verbal and physical attacks against medical staffers is on the rise, Dudkevich called on authorities to ensure that the attacker is quickly punished in order to send the message that violence against hospital workers would not be tolerated.
