Gorman said on Tuesday that the frequency of attacks had increased since November, but she was particularly concerned that the severity of assaults had worsened too.
“It’s the worst I’ve ever seen it in 30 years of emergency work,” she says. “I’ve physically had my wrist broken. I’ve been spat on, kicked, punched multiple times throughout my career, but I’ve never seen it as bad as it is now, in regards to the severity of assaults taking place.”
On December 27, a patient stroked a female paramedic’s inner thigh and continued the unwanted touching, even after more crew arrived.
Gorman said she was particularly shocked by that sexual assault.
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“In a three-day window, we had 10 very serious offences perpetrated against our paramedics, which has caused us today to step out as an organisation and as regional leaders to say: Enough is enough.”
She described violence inflicted upon emergency workers as a global epidemic.
Andrew Burns, Ambulance Victoria’s operations director for western Melbourne, said patients were often the perpetrators of paramedic assaults, but bystanders and relatives were increasingly aggressive.
“I think rather than talking to the specific numbers, it’s the trend and the severity that is grossly concerning,” he said.
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“We’ve had crews whipped by stethoscope. We’ve had crews have to abandon the ambulance whilst a patient destroyed the back of the ambulance.”
Harrington, meanwhile, has been a paramedic for seven years and describes violence towards him as part of the reality of his profession. Spitting was not uncommon, he said.
“I wish that I could say that this was the first time it’s happened to me, but almost an identical situation happened about 18 months ago,” he said.
“It was the same thing, a stranger came and pulled the window down, essentially, and spat on me again. I got into this job to help people on their worst day … which is why it’s even more disappointing that this stuff happens.”
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