An emergency service closed in Annemasse after the attack on its staff – rts.ch

“The service personnel are in a real state of psychological shock,” underlined a spokesperson for the establishment, confirming information from the regional daily Le Dauphiné Libéré. According to the hospital, the attack happened around 11 p.m.

Companion at fault

One of the two men involved, “aged around thirty”, was waiting on a stretcher in the treatment area as a patient after his administrative treatment. Coming from outside, his companion then managed to sneak into the department whose doors were closed.

He attacked a nurse “verbally and physically”, “dissatisfied” after a “ten minutes of waiting” during treatment. “He pushed her, dragged her by the hair” before being joined by his accomplice who was on the stretcher.

Around fifteen emergency personnel including a doctor “came to the aid of their colleague”. They received blows from the two men who “then fled” by car, according to the same source.

State of shock

Among the fourteen staff members involved, “all in a state of psychological shock”, six suffered from “facial swelling” and some of them from “a cracked rib, trauma to an ankle or a broken hand. They were all due to file a complaint Thursday evening at the Annemasse police station.

“Monday morning, we will reassess the situation for potentially a reopening” of the service, concluded the hospital management. This establishment has 250 beds. Its emergency rooms record around a hundred daily consultations.

“Acts of aggression”

In a joint press release, the Haute-Savoie prefecture and the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Regional Health Agency (ARS) “strongly” condemned these “acts of aggression” against health personnel like those which took place in in addition “between the month of December (last) and the beginning of January” in the department.

“At the beginning of December, at the Sallanches Hospital, two nursing staff were violently attacked (…) On January 6, a SMUR vehicle belonging to the Annecy-Genevois Hospital Center was stoned during an intervention,” recall them, emphasizing their “unwavering support” for healthcare workers.

Every day, on average, in France, 65 healthcare professionals are victims of physical or verbal attacks, according to the same source.

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