The Las Palmas Medical Association has reported that the number of assaults reported by medical professionals providing services in the Canary Islands Health Service has risen to 69 in the province, with women being the most affected by physical and verbal assaults. Of these, the vast majority were recorded in Gran Canaria, 77%, and in Fuerteventura, 19%, while in Lanzarote, it is 4%.
All assaults reported to the Las Palmas Medical Association have received legal advice from the College and have resulted in their corresponding report to the Police. “We are talking about reported assaults, the number of assaults that occur is much higher. We estimate that one occurs per day in our province”, warned Marta León, general secretary of the Las Palmas Medical Association.
“This is a very worrying figure, not only because of the number, but because it is actually the tip of the iceberg. We know that many assaults are ultimately not reported”, commented the general secretary of the College.
“Assaults significantly damage the doctor-patient relationship and therefore the healthcare system”, warned Marta León. “Reporting an assault to the College is essential, because in all those reported to us, we act”, declares Marta León, general secretary of the Las Palmas Medical Association. “This fact is fundamental”, analyzes Marta León and highlights that “in every assault that the College is aware of, a report has been filed with the police”.
In the trials that have concluded in which the legal services of the College have intervened, in all of them, convictions have been obtained.
Women, more assaulted
The medical professionals assaulted have been 57% women and 43% men. By age, 25% were under 35 years old; 55% between 36 and 45 years old; 10%, between 46 and 55 years old; and the other 10% between 56 and 65 years old.
Of the total of 69 registered, verbal assaults represent 83%, while physical assaults reach 17%. Thus, the College has highlighted that all physical assaults have been suffered by female doctors.
Verbal assaults include insults, humiliations, threats and coercion. Note that 15% of threats or insults are made by telephone.
7% of physical assaults have caused sick leave for the assaulted doctor. This year there have been no cases of assault in which material damage has also occurred.
More than 20% of the assaults have occurred after discrepancies with medical care and in 22% of cases for not giving in to the aggressor's demands. The time to be attended 22% and not agreeing with the sick leave 25%.
58% of the reports have been filed with the National Police, 27% with the Civil Guard and 15% with the local police. 83% in the public sphere, while 17% have occurred in the private sphere.
Unified registry
The College has conveyed to the Canary Islands Health Service the need to integrate the assault data recorded in the public sphere together with those of the College and the private sphere in the same place, with the aim of unifying criteria and procedures for action, in addition to facilitating counting and having a single reality.
“In other autonomous communities such as Andalusia there is a single registry that unifies everything that happens. It is an agile, brief and confidential procedure, the legal services of the different Medical Associations act, like ours, with the greatest speed because they are aware of the assault and act with the utmost possible speed”, explained Marta León.
The Las Palmas Medical Association maintains its own registry that medical personnel communicate through the Institution's telephone (928 360 001) and WhatsApp (638 332 768), in which those from the public and private spheres are counted.
When a medical professional contacts the Las Palmas Medical Association, the College's Legal Advice immediately contacts the assaulted doctor to take charge of the judicial proceedings and notify the Sanitary Police Interlocutor to report to the Police Station.
Since 2015, assaults on doctors have been classified in the penal code as a crime of assault and can carry prison sentences.
