European Day against violence towards physicians: a call for zero tolerance
On 12 March 2025, the European Day against Violence towards doctors and other healthcare professionals will once again mark the mobilisation of the medical community against a scourge that continues to worsen across Europe.
Initiated by the European Council of Medical Orders (CEOM), the aim of this day is to denounce the growing violence faced by healthcare providers and to reaffirm the urgent need to step up action to end it.
CEOM has been taking concrete action against such violence for several years. In 2017, a European Observatory on Violence against Physicians was established, followed by the creation of a European awareness day in 2020. In 2023, CEOM adopted a standardised European form for reporting assaults, drawn up in cooperation with medical organizations in member countries. The aim of this tool, which is the result of collaboration between the participating medical organisations, is to better identify the causes and consequences of such violence and to develop more effective prevention policies.
The data available underline the urgency of the situation. In Spain, 847 assaults on doctors were recorded in 2024, the highest number since the creation of the National Observatory on Violence against Physicians in 2010. And this figure reflects only part of the reality, as most attacks go unreported and unpunished.
Other European countries are seeing an increase in the number of incidents reported, in line with a trend that has been observed at European level for several years. In France, 1,581 incidents were recorded in 2023, and 2,359 in the same year in Portugal. Belgium, Germany, Italy and Greece also reported rising figures.
This phenomenon, which affects all healthcare professionals, threatens not only the safety of caregivers, but also the quality of care and the proper functioning of healthcare systems.
In this context, the CEOM renews its call for zero tolerance of any form of violence against health professionals. It fully supports the mobilisation of doctors on 12 March 2025 to defend the relationship of trust between carer and patient, which is essential to all care.
The CEOM encourages and supports national legislative initiatives aimed at guaranteeing safe and dignified working conditions for all practitioners and calls for a coordinated response at European level.
Society must take care of those who take care of it.
