“I take a knife and a gas canister to the house-call...” Who will protect the doctors from violence?

Public figure Alyona Popova once again raised an urgent problem in her blog - the protection of Russian doctors from violence. The reason for this was another murder, this time in Orenburg, where the therapist Elena Fedorova was tracked down and brutally in the entrance, when she was walking to the patient, her ex-boyfriend, he inflicted 30 knife wounds on his victim.

If they'll kill you - we'll figure it out

In this case, two things coincided tragically. First, stalking. A familiar person (a former partner or someone who actually showed sympathy, but you did not reciprocate) can turn out to be a stalker, and a stranger who has an obsession with revenge for something that really happened or for a fictional one. Here the problem arises of the lack of protection from persecution, because it is no secret to anyone that the police very often respond to reports of stalking: “When they kill you, then call...”

The second circumstance is the profession of the victim. The murder of Elena Fedorova once again caused a discussion in the professional community about the protection of doctors during calls, since usually a female doctor goes around her patients alone, without any protection, and often in the dark (especially in autumn and winter).

“We do not have statistics on the killings of medical workers, and violence against them is also not stopped in any way. The topic of protecting doctors is not regulated by law in any way, Popova writes. - Back in 2014, the Legislative Assembly of St. Petersburg submitted to the State Duma amendments to the Criminal Code on the use of violence against health workers, a similar initiative was actively developed by the Ministry of Health. Its essence was to equate responsibility for an attack on doctors with crimes against law enforcement officers. The document was rejected, nothing of the kind was ever accepted.

Moreover, Popova recalls that since 2021, a bill has been in the State Duma that also raises the status of medical doctors. In particular, in terms of their rights, medical workers are equated in it with military, police and firefighters. This means that administrative and criminal liability for insulting doctors in the performance of official duties, causing harm to their health, inflicting bodily harm or death on them, is becoming tougher. And besides, it also provides for professional liability insurance.

However, the cart, according to the old Russian tradition, is still there ...

Readers animatedly comment on this post by Popova, and doctors share their experiences in it. He is, to put it mildly, terrible. So the doctor Maria Zhuravlyova writes:

“There is such a thing. As part of my job, I have to go on calls at any time of the day or night. Including, and in dens of alcoholics. One. And, although I take a knife and a gas canister with me, and mentally prepare for everything, I understand perfectly well that in the event of a criminal situation, there will most likely be no sense in these means of protection, and in any case, my fate will be unenviable. Either be killed or maimed, or get a criminal record for causing bodily harm to the attacker. And in the second case, in addition to a criminal record, through the efforts of the public and the media, I will receive the stigma of an evil and heartless creature who had the audacity to defend his life..."

Every doctor needs a dog!

And Kristina Marinovich reports on how she managed to "get rid" of the stalker:

“I had a stalker, every day I was afraid that it would end the same. The answer was always the same - they will kill, we will deal with it. I was lucky that he ended up dying suddenly on his own. Elena is terribly sorry, and all the girls and women who endanger life and health every day ... "

Other comments to match:

- And the lack of the ability to forcibly hospitalize psychos until the crimes are committed is not voiced in any way. So fled from punitive psychiatry, that's it. Today in St. Petersburg, a 25-year-old man diagnosed with schizophrenia drowned a passerby in the river. Kill, then fly.

- Recently, one girl was also killed, her mother wrote 10 statements that her daughter was being pursued by her ex, threatened, beaten, and this is the result ...

- Perhaps this is one of the reasons why in the States it is generally not customary to call an ambulance. Calling an ambulance will cost about $1,000. Therefore, no matter how bad you feel, you go to the hospital either in your car or in a taxi.

- And then everyone groans: well, what kind of doctors? They don't take calls. And they are people too, and they are also scared.

- Yes, generally cancel these calls. Once the protection of doctors can not be provided.

- In many countries, doctors go only to incredibly emergency situations, all other cases are kicked to the hospital. and they need to be paid for, minus children's and just emergency ones (I suddenly give birth, my leg was torn off, well, you understand).

- If you remember how many attacks, or it turns out there is nothing special there, or the sick are more worried about shoe covers than because of their health ... this is not necessary at all.

Exotic ways to solve the problem were also given:

“Want an easy solution? Service dog. If the public talks about it, the government will allocate money. and it can happen at any level. Firstly, the dog is a frightening, warning and preventive measure. A criminal will not climb a woman with a dog. Secondly, if necessary, a trained dog knows how to neutralize a criminal even with a knife ... "