"Healthcare Workers Attacked with a Weapon: Safety Measures Needed in Medical Settings Beyond After-the-Fact Punishment"

Korean Medical Association, Seoul Metropolitan Medical Association, and Korean Intern Resident Association issue statements in unison
Call for comprehensive review of security personnel and emergency response systems
"Patients' right to receive care can be guaranteed only when healthcare workers are safe"

Following the stabbing of a psychiatry professor at Severance Hospital in Seodaemun-gu, Seoul, medical organizations have jointly called for safety measures to protect healthcare workers on the front lines. They stressed that efforts should go beyond tougher penalties after an incident and expand preventive safety infrastructure, including security personnel and emergency reporting systems.

On November 5, the Korean Medical Association, the Seoul Metropolitan Medical Association, and the Korean Intern Resident Association each issued a statement condemning the attack on a Severance Hospital professor the previous day and calling on the government and National Assembly to introduce effective measures to protect healthcare workers.

The Korean Medical Association said the incident exposed the limitations of what is known as the "Im Se-won Act." After the 2018 attack in which a patient of his killed the late Professor Im Se-won of Kangbuk Samsung Hospital with a weapon, laws and systems were introduced to prevent violence at medical institutions. However, they focused on tougher penalties for perpetrators after an incident, and healthcare workers remain exposed to violence.

"If examination rooms, where patients' lives are saved, are left as dangerous places vulnerable at any time to weapon attacks and violence, healthcare workers who have persevered out of a sense of duty will have no choice but to leave the field amid extreme anxiety and fear," the association said. It added, "Protecting healthcare workers from violence in examination rooms is an essential social safety net for safeguarding the lives of the public and patients," and called for fundamental measures at the national level.

The Seoul Metropolitan Medical Association also stressed that violence at medical institutions is a serious crime that not only harms healthcare workers but also infringes on other patients' right to receive treatment. It said that when healthcare workers are exposed to violence and forced to suspend normal care, patients inevitably suffer as a result.

The association called on the government and National Assembly to establish legal and institutional measures to prevent violence at medical institutions, as well as comprehensive measures at the national level. In particular, it said practical safety infrastructure must be established, including security personnel, emergency reporting systems, and police coordination systems, to respond to weapons being brought into facilities and to acts of violence. It also urged investigative authorities to thoroughly establish the circumstances of the incident and hold the perpetrator fully accountable under the law.

The Korean Intern Resident Association, which represents residents, questioned the effectiveness of current security measures at medical institutions. It said that although the law requires security personnel to be assigned and emergency alarm devices to be installed, violence and threats continue to occur in medical settings, including wards and outpatient departments.

The association said the government and medical institutions should comprehensively review the implementation of security measures and emergency response systems and transparently disclose the results. It added that reviews should focus not on whether staffing and equipment installation are documented on paper, but on whether immediate evacuation and support are possible in an actual emergency. It also called for a system in which medical institutions and the state share responsibility to ensure that healthcare workers who experience violence are not left alone during treatment, recovery, and legal proceedings.

It particularly stressed the need to protect healthcare workers in training, including residents. Residents are vulnerable to violence because they are often the first to meet patients and their guardians and frequently provide care with limited staff at night and on weekends. The association also said the responsibilities of training hospitals must be clearly defined to ensure that residents do not refrain from reporting incidents out of concern about disadvantages in their training, or return to the same workplace without adjustments to their duties after an attack.

The association also pointed out that although institutional improvements have been made in cases of emergency room violence, including expanding the locations where penalties apply, violence in outpatient departments and wards is subject to comparatively lighter penalties. It said, "Since violence against healthcare workers can also threaten the lives of other patients, the scope of enhanced penalties should be extended to all areas where medical care is provided."

However, the association also made clear that protecting healthcare workers must not lead to stigmatizing patients with mental illnesses or restricting their access to care. "The conduct subject to punishment must be violence, and nothing else," it said. "Protecting healthcare workers and creating a safe treatment environment for patients are not separate goals."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.