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Citation
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Lu S, Ren S, Xu Y, Lai J, Hu J, Lu J, Huang M, Ma X, Chen J, Hu S. Lancet Psychiatry 2020; 7(3): e9. |
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Affiliation
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Department of Psychiatry, First Affiliated Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Hangzhou 310003, China; Key Laboratory of Mental Disorder's Management of Zhejiang Province, Hangzhou, Zhejiang, China. Electronic address: dorhushaohua@zju.edu.cn. |
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Abstract
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On Dec 28, 2019, the National People's Congress Standing Committee of China approved a law to regulate health-care services,1 which included provisions for preventing patient-initiated workplace violence against medical workers. This regulation is sadly necessary because the incidence of disputes between patients and medical workers is still rising alarmingly in China.2
4 days before this legislation passed, an emergency doctor at Beijing Civil Aviation General Hospital was murdered by a patient's relative. Medical workers across China were shocked and indignant. In addition to physical attack, daily oral insults to medical workers occur in almost every hospital in China.
Fortunately, the Chinese government has been aware of this problem. Workplace violence against medical workers has been punishable according to the revised Criminal Law of China since Nov 1, 2015, and the ringleaders of serious violence disturbing medical activities may be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment for 3–7 years. The new law1 will take effect on June 1, 2020. In a bid to reduce violence against medical workers, the law stipulates that the personal safety and dignity of medical workers must not be infringed upon and that their legitimate rights are protected by law. It calls for all people to care about and respect medical workers and to keep the medical environment and service in order, and it also clarifies that people disturbing medical activities will be given administrative punishments, such as detentions or fines.
Similarly, the UK Government introduced an NHS violence reduction strategy in October, 2019,3 which clarifies organisational responsibilities, improves staff training for dealing with violence and abuse, and doubles the maximum sentence for violence against emergency services staff from 6 months to 1 year.
Language: en |