Alarming Surge in Abuse: France’s Doctor Safety Report Highlights Growing Threat to Healthcare Professionals 

France’s doctor safety watchdog, the CNOM, recently published its 20th report on doctor safety, revealing concerning statistics regarding abuse and abusive behavior towards healthcare professionals. It coincided with news of a nurse being killed by a psychiatric patient at Reims University Hospital. The figures from 2022 showed a significant 23% increase in incidents compared to 2021, with 1244 reported cases.  

Verbal abuse and threats are on the rise, accounting for 73% of the reported incidents in 2022, compared to 70% in 2021. However, rates of theft, attempted theft, physical abuse, and acts of vandalism either remained stable or showed a decline. The decrease in physical attacks also resulted in a slight decrease in the number of healthcare workers taking unplanned time off work.