▲ How dangerous the Emergency center is.

The emergency room (ER) is a place where workers face a constant barrage of verbal, physical and sexual assault. Recently, an incident involving a civil servant sexual assaulting a nurse made headlines bringing the unsafe workplace environment to light for the general public.  On October 24, a male civil servant was transferred to the ER in Incheon for treatment of severe intoxication.  While receiving an IV treatment, the patient touched the nurse’s hip and proceeded to physically assault her.  This was not the first time a nurse faced this kind of treatment.  Crime in the ER is a serious issue because it not only puts the staff at risk, it can put the lives of other patients in danger as staff is forced to stop their work and address the problems being created by the perpetrators. 

Furthermore, if any medical equipment is damaged in the process, the accident could results in financial drain on the hospital which is forced to replace the damaged equipment.

Medical teams and staff working in the ER are regularly exposed to verbal, physical, and sexual assault. A domestic investigation revealed that almost 80% of ER workers reported being exposed to verbal assault while a further 50% were victims of physical assault. The investigation also revealed that verbal assaults occurred 2 to 4 times a week while physical assault were reported once a month, and workers believe the numbers will only increase.

In foreign countries, any assault in an emergency room is treated as a serious criminal offence. Korea also has legislation with severe punishment for those who commit assault in the ER. In some hospital ERs, there are posters pertaining to the legislation notifying people of the consequences for committing these kinds of assaults.

Under the terms of the Emergency Medical Services Act, a person who assaults a member of a medical team will be sent to jail for 5 years or be fined 30 trillion won. However, despite these harsh penalties, medical teams and patients in the ER are still exposed to violence.

In fact a lot of intoxicated people end up in the ER for treatment of various injuries and they  often use violence against the very medical teams there to help them.  In Jung-gu, Gyung-buk hospital, a man pushed a doctor because he was angry that another patient he believed came later, was assigned to a bed earlier than his wife. In the ER in a hospital in Chung-yang, a man surnamed Jeon came to the ER drunk with his friend Lee. While the medical team was administering first aid to Mr. Jeon, his friend Mr. Lee verbally assaulted a nurse, and came out of the clinic throwing things, breaking a monitor in the reception room while shouting the patient is dead which is not true.

The Dankook Herald (DKH) interviewed Eom Eun-jin, an emergency room medical technician who works at a university hospital in Seoul to find out about the actual working conditions she faces in the ER.  She said, “There are a lot of examples where patients verbally or physically assault doctors, nurses and emergency room medical technicians.  Most of the victims are female nurses, because there are four times as many of them, as compared to doctors, working in the ER. Also, they have more contact with patients than doctors. For example, they often hear themselves insultingly being referred to as ‘just a woman’ or ‘just a nurse’. “

Moreover, DKH asked why she thought crime in the ER was more dangerous than other crimes. She stated, “There are many different kinds of patients in the ER, and we cannot anticipate their needs or reasons for being there.  During treatment, in some cases, patients have become more hostile. Moreover, there are cases where the medical team could not treat more critical patients because of these work disturbances, especially those coming from drunk patients. Therefore, crimes in the ER are more dangerous than general crimes.” In addition, she said, “Many people know the risks for committing a crime in the ER and that the punishment is similar to that of general crimes. However, most punishment results in just awarding minor penalties.”

At the hospital where she works, there is a training program for employees to help them handle sexual assault and act rationally in those circumstances. According to the training process, if the crime occurs in the ER, the victim can ask for help from the on duty security guard who will report it to the police. After addressing the problem, the victim has to contact the head nurse and fill out a ‘report of criminal circumstance’ form.

Lastly, she argued, “The government has to amend the hospital criminal offenses act to make it a stronger piece of legislation.  A lot needs to be done to protect emergency room patients and workers in the hospital through amendments to the law.  Without work disturbances, we can treat emergency room patients more efficiently. Moreover if a crime occurs in the ER, we need a quick coping system and proper punishment that acts in the interests of the safety of other patients.”
The frequency of crime being committed in the ER is rising.  On weekends, it is all too common to see all kinds of assault happening in the ER.  The perpetrators are seriously dangerous because they threaten the lives of other patients as well as emergency room medical staff.  However, punishment for the crimes are often weak as compared to the risk of committing the act.  Therefore, there is a need to reinforce the punishment for crimes against those who dedicate their lives to helping people in the ER like physicians and patients.