A doctor was attacked in the early hours of Tuesday morning at the Pilar de la Horadada health centre. According to a complaint from the Works Council of the Torrevieja health department, the doctor was covering the emergency room when a patient attacked him after refusing to accept the treatment he had been prescribed,
The events took place at around 1:00 a.m. while the patient attended the Pilar health centre. After consulting with the duty doctor, the patient requested a medication that the doctor could not justify. He was prescribed an injectable alternative so that he could go home and sleep and, the next day, go back to see a specialist doctor who could then prescribe the medication he requested.
When the nurse went to give him the injection, the patient refused. It was then that, according to the Works Council, he began to shout and become visibly upset. When the doctor warned him to stop his aggressive attitude or else he would call the police, the patient made a show of taking a sharp object from his jacket pocket.
A struggle broke out between the doctor and the patient and both fell to the ground; at which point the other workers present called the police. Patrols of the Civil Guard and the Local Police attended the scene, arrested the aggressor and also took the doctor to the police station to file a complaint.
This is the second such incident in the area after an anaesthetist was attacked by the parent of a patient at the Vega Baja Hospital just last week.
The Torrevieja Health Department’s Works Committee is calling for private security in all primary care centres, and especially in those that provide emergency services at night, in Pilar de la Horadada, Orihuela Costa, San Miguel, Guardamar and Rojales. At the moment, the only centre that has security is La Loma, in the heart of Torrevieja’s urban centre.
The Committee believes that the presence of private security is the only solution to prevent events like last night from happening again. They have also called for a demonstration at the doors of the Pilar de la Horadada health centre on Friday at 10:00 in the morning to denounce the attack.
