Intended for healthcare professionals

News

Spanish health workers are granted public authority status to deter patient attacks

BMJ 2014; 349 doi: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.g5331 (Published 27 August 2014) Cite this as: BMJ 2014;349:g5331
  1. Aser García Rada
  1. 1Madrid

Workers in the Spanish national health service will be granted similar public status to that of police officers under new rules designed to protect them from attacks by patients.

New legislation that will consider medical professionals as public authorities while exercising their job will be introduced by the end of this year, said José Antonio Becerra, coordinator of the assaults observatory (Observatorio de Agresiones) at the organisation of Spanish medical colleges (Organización Médica Colegial). The measure will grant all of Spain’s 600 000 health workers similar status to that of police forces and state security bodies and will introduce tougher penalties against patients or their …

View Full Text

Log in

Log in through your institution

Subscribe

* For online subscription