What do lawyers say about the incident of a patient's family assaulting a medical staff?
As reported by Nghe An Newspaper, on the evening of June 1, a 40-second clip appeared on social media recording the incident of a man leaning over the counter and punching an employee in the administrative area of Nghe An General Hospital. Nghe An Newspaper had an interview with Dr. Lawyer Nguyen Trong Hai - Director of Trong Hai Law Firm and his associates about this incident.
PV: Dear Lawyer, the case of the patient's familyIs it illegal for a medical worker to be violent?
Dr. Lawyer Nguyen Trong Hai:Article 7 of the 2023 Law on Medical Examination and Treatment stipulates prohibited acts in medical examination and treatment activities, including::Infringing upon the life, health, insulting the honor and dignity of practitioners and others working at medical examination and treatment facilities or vandalizing or destroying property of medical examination and treatment facilities.
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Accordingly, the law strictly prohibits acts of infringing upon the life and health, insulting the honor and dignity of practitioners and others working at medical examination and treatment facilities, or vandalizing or destroying property of medical examination and treatment facilities.
Thus, in the event that a patient's family member assaults or beats a doctor or medical staff during the examination and treatment process, this is considered a violation of the law.
PV: So, the behavior of the patient's familyHow will assault on medical staff be handled?
Dr. Lawyer Nguyen Trong Hai:According to Article 48 of Decree 177/2020/ND-CP, regulations on administrative sanctions for violations of regulations on principles in medical examination and treatment practice are as follows:
- A fine of 30,000,000 VND to 40,000,000 VND for acts that cause harm to the health or threaten the life of a practitioner while examining or treating a patient.
- Additional penalties:
a) Revoke the right to use the medical examination and treatment practice certificate for a period of 01 to 03 months for the acts specified in Clause 5 of this Article;
b) Suspend part of the facility's operations (for departments, rooms, centers, units, and divisions that violate the law) or revoke the facility's right to use its medical examination and treatment license (for violations that affect the entire operations of the medical examination and treatment facility) for a period of 01 to 03 months for the acts specified in Clause 5 of this Article.
- Remedial measures:
a) Force the practitioner to apologize directly for the acts specified in Point a, Clause 1, Point a, Clause 3 and Clause 6 of this Article;
b) Forced to apologize directly to the patient for the acts specified in Point b, Clause 1 and Point c, Clause 3 of this Article.
At the same time, pursuant to Clause 5, Article 4 of Decree 117/2020/ND-CP, there are regulations on fines for individuals and organizations. Accordingly, for the same administrative violation, the fine for an organization is twice the fine for an individual.
Thus, if a patient's family member assaults a doctor or medical staff, they may be fined from VND 30,000,000 to VND 40,000,000 for harming the health or threatening the life of a practitioner while examining or treating a patient.
In addition, remedial measures must be taken to force a direct apology to the practitioner.
- In case of serious injury, the violator may be prosecuted for the crime of Intentionally causing injury or harm to the health of others under Article 134 of the Penal Code 2015 (amended and supplemented in 2017), with penalties ranging from non-custodial reform to imprisonment, depending on the consequences.
In the case that occurred at the administrative area of Nghe An General Hospital, the assault on medical staff by the patient's family member showed signs of the crime of disturbing public order as prescribed in Article 318 of the Penal Code.
The nature and severity of the act also depends on the investigation results of the competent authority.
However, from a social perspective, especially in an environment like a hospital, assaulting doctors and medical staff for any reason should be condemned and severely punished.
PV:Thank you, Attorney!
On the afternoon of June 2, Nghe An General Hospital reported an incident in which a patient's family member assaulted a nurse. According to the hospital, at around 11:52 p.m. on May 31, the Emergency Department here admitted patient Tran Van L. (53 years old, residing in Nghi Kim Commune, Vinh City) for emergency care. After the patient entered the department, the doctor on duty examined the patient, explained the patient's condition, prescribed medication, performed paraclinical tests, and instructed the patient's family to go to the counter to complete procedures for the patient.
At the check-in counter, nurse Nguyen Thi A. received the documents, then guided the family members to the waiting area outside, to wait according to hospital regulations. However,The family did not comply, showed an uncooperative attitude and used insulting, abusive, and threatening words towards the medical staff.Nurse A. continued to explain and asked the family to wait outside for the medical staff to perform their duties. When assistance was needed, the medical staff would notify them. However, the family did not comply and continued to curse, insult, threaten, and reach across the check-in counter to slap Nurse A. in the face, causing her glasses to fly off, her left cheek to swell, become painful, dizzy, nauseous, have blurred vision, and become mentally and emotionally unstable, requiring hospitalization..
The person who assaulted the female nurse was identified as Tran Tuan Anh (32 years old, residing in Hamlet 13, Nghi Kim Commune, Vinh City). Tuan Anh is the son of the patient who was brought to the emergency room.
Nghi Phu ward police are continuing to investigate and clarify the incident.
