Medical Assault

[Anchor Lead]

The government will now enforce much tougher punishments on those who assault doctors or cause disturbance in emergency rooms. Assailants in emergency rooms will be arrested.

[Pkg]

Medical staff members were assaulted in emergency rooms in Iksan in July, Gumi in August, and more recently in Busan. Obstruction of medical care in emergency rooms numbered nearly 900 cases in last year alone. Assault accounts for the largest proportion with 40 cases, followed by threats, unruly behaviors, verbal abuses and property damages. Victims are mostly doctors and nurses, but other patients were also hurt in 10 different cases. Most of the assailants were not punished and fewer than 30 attackers received penalties tougher than a fine.

[Soundbite] Kim Han-jun (Publicity Director, Korean Society of Emergency Medicine): "Attacks on medical staff cause disruptions in medical care and can hurt the patients or their families, so such acts violate the patients' right to be treated."

So the government has stepped up. Security personnel is to be deployed in emergency rooms, so violent incidents can be suppressed as soon as they occur. When an attacker has a weapon or causes grave damage, he or she will be slapped with obstruction of justice and arrested for investigation.

[Soundbite] Park Jae-chan (Dept. of Emergency Medicine, Ministry of Health and Welfare): "We will continue to amend necessary laws and try to provide people with information and improve operations of emergency rooms."

But in order to actually prevent and reduce violence in emergency rooms, additional measures should be taken, such as increasing the authority of security personnel.