Medical staff could benefit from the same criminal protection as policemen or soldiers in the case of aggression, according to a bill submitted to Parliament by PNL deputy Andrei Baciu. The initiative envisages the tightening of penalties for acts of outrage committed against medical personnel in the exercise of their duties, by increasing the penalty limits by half.
The proposal comes amid increasingly frequent incidents in hospitals, where doctors and nurses have been assaulted by patients’ relatives. Recently, the police opened a criminal case after the violent scenes at the Emergency County Hospital in Târgu Jiu, where a doctor on duty was hit while trying to save the life of a patient who had swallowed several pills. When the doctor decided to perform a gastric lavage, the woman started screaming, and several relatives entered the salon and assaulted the doctor.
Deputy Andrei Baciu claims that such situations can no longer be ignored.
“We see that there are things that happen in society and I think that this is what the Parliament must do especially, to see what are the important things for people. For doctors, for medical personnel, this is a matter that happens. I would not go so far as to say that it has become a phenomenon, as it has been said in the public space, but it is a matter that we see happening more and more often. Only last week we see that two events like this happened. A doctor, as a result of such of the event, he chose to injure his leg. From what I have seen in the press, there are also very humiliating situations, such as throwing coffee on a doctor, that is, things that are not done in general. Aggression and violence are not acceptable in general, even more so in situations where, in fact, the person in question, a doctor, someone who works in the field of health, is trying to do you or someone close.” he declared for Agerpres.
The initiator explains that the project complements article 257 of the Criminal Code, which regulates the crime of insult.
“Through this project, the Criminal Code is completed and an article is added. It is a legislative initiative that proposes the completion of Article 257 of the Criminal Code, which, in fact, tightens the sanctioning regime, in the sense of introducing aggravating forms in the case of the offense of insult, when these things are committed against medical personnel in the exercise of their duties. At the moment, practically, the law says that for a few situations the punishment is tightened. For the acts committed against civil servants it is tightened by one third and for the acts committed against the police, military and forestry workers it is tightened by half. Basically, I proposed adding a new paragraph, paragraph (5), to article 257. This new paragraph says that the acts provided for in paragraphs (1)-(3), where all these acts of violence, of bodily harm and so on, are described, committed on the medical staff in the exercise of their duties or in connection with the exercise of these duties, shall be sanctioned with the penalty provided by law for that crime, the limits of which shall be increased by half”, Baciu specified.
If the bill is adopted, doctors and health workers would benefit from the same level of criminal protection as policemen or soldiers when they are assaulted in the line of duty.
