“When I think back to that man who pointed a gun at me and threatened me and the risks I took, I feel like a survivor. For an instant I thought I was dying. The fear was very strong, I felt petrified but determined to continue my work, even if trembling, because the patients needed me. It was 2017, impossible to forget even after years.” Ombretta Silecchia remembers everything about that cursed evening at the end of February when she was attacked and threatened by an armed man during her medical shift in a Continuity of Care Center in Statte, in the province of Taranto. And today, a general practitioner in Bari, “my city”, Silecchia returns to relive that experience with Adnkronos on the eve of the national day of education and prevention against violence against health and social-health workers, who from 2022 it is celebrated on March 12th.
The threat after the refusal of yet another prescription for an analgesic drug that the man had been abusing for years, “a convicted felon under house arrest, a regular visitor to the medical service – says Silecchia – Even though the prescription had been given to him the evening before, it wasn't enough for him. When I refused, he protested, then returned the following evening with the gun”. That same evening, at the end of the work shift, the doctor reported the incident to the police. “Thanks to that complaint the man returned to prison”, because, in addition to the threats to the doctor, he had also escaped from house arrest.
“I was kicked by one of my clients with a toothache, I can't forget that violence. He was impatient, he didn't want to wait his turn, and despite my reassurances, in a fit of anger, he kicked me, causing me to fracture a phalanx of my right hand, as I was facing the attacker in an attempt to dodge the blows” It is the story of Giulio Minoretti, 60 years old, a general practitioner for 20 years, attacked in his clinic in Bitonto (Bari) just before Christmas 2022. The intervention of the clinic staff who called the police was timely. order – recalls Minoretti – who, having arrived on site, reported him in a state of freedom to the Public Prosecutor's Office of Bari for assault on a public official, interruption of public service and serious injuries”.
“The waiting room was full – recalls the doctor – between bookings and acceptances of visits and the ongoing anti-Covid and anti-flu vaccination campaign. Yet, he demanded to be visited without any reservations and served immediately. I tried to I reassured the agitated man and I also told him 'it's okay, I'll visit you but we have to wait'. At that point he started insulting me and when I said I would call 112 he started kicking me, one caused me to dislocate and fracture my ring finger. I admit, it was a shock for me, a trauma that I experienced in silence for weeks. Then the president of the National Order of Doctors (Fnomceo) Filippo Anelli was informed of the affair and he invited me to talk about it publicly.”
Minoretti has no doubts about the importance of the National Day against violence against health and social-health workers: “It is good to turn the spotlight on these attacks – he underlines – let's not forget that the most affected are general practitioners, in addition to health workers. of 118 and the emergency room. That episode left its mark on me. However, I continue to do my job with the same passion as always but there is certainly a need for greater security.”
“It's important to tell our stories, for me it's a duty – adds Silecchia – for those who are going through the same experience as me today and for those who, unfortunately, no longer have a voice, like my colleague Paola Labriola, the psychiatrist from Bari killed by a patient in 2013″ with ten stab wounds. “Despite the law dedicated to Labriola and the National Day against attacks on doctors and healthcare workers, there are working conditions in which nothing has changed”. From North to South “colleagues cover medical on-call shifts in total solitude, at everyone's mercy, where no there are no public security facilities or video intercoms and where there is also no connection with the police. We are all at risk, but while the 118 staff moves as a team, the general practitioner in the clinic or during the medical on-call shift is alone. And he's scared” he concludes. (by Francesca Filippi)
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