The National Police have arrested a woman accused of threatening and hitting a nurse at the Doctor Joaquín Pece Health Center in San Fernando (Cádiz), demanding that she treat her and take her blood pressure because she was in a hurry. Given these events, which occurred last Friday, April 12, the Bahía de Cádiz-La Janda Primary Care District has activated its Aggression Prevention Plan, the Government of Andalusia has reported in a note.
The alleged aggressor was arrested the next day by the Police after the complaint filed by the professional, who had to receive initial healthcare at her own center.
For its part, the SAS District has made all necessary resources available to the affected professional, including legal advice and psychological support, and has publicly condemned these events. The Territorial Delegation of Health and Consumer Affairs, through its delegate, Eva Pajares, has also joined in regretting what happened and has shown its support for this nurse, as well as the rest of the health personnel.
The Board has indicated that physical aggression or serious intimidation against health personnel in the exercise of their public care function is considered a crime of attack by the courts of justice, and thus sentences have been handed down in these cases, punishable by sentences of one to three years in prison.
In fact, he recalled a ruling from March 27 in which a woman was sentenced to prison terms, a restraining order and a financial fine for a verbal attack on a doctor at the Barrio Alto Health Center in Sanlúcar.
Health has various instruments to combat these episodes of violence, included in the Plan for Prevention and Attention to Aggressions, such as the creation of the figure of the “professional guide”, the implementation of agile and fast channels so that the victim of an attack – verbal or physical – is not alone moments after suffering it, psychological care for as long as necessary, or the reinforcement of security measures in health centers and safety conditions in workplaces.
Another of the instruments of the plan is the provincial commission against attacks on professionals in health centers, which aims to find points of improvement that will result in a decrease in physical or verbal attacks.
