Violence Against Healthcare Workers and Ethics

Violence against healthcare workers has become a global problem with a high prevalence worldwide. Examining the root causes of violence that occurs within a specific healthcare system and evaluating it from an ethical perspective will be important for understanding violence and developing prevention strategies. The physician/health worker-patient relationship is an interaction that has ancient values from the past to the present and where the humanistic dimension is at the forefront. The fact that healthcare professionals provide services based on mutual respect, trust, honesty, compassion and fidelity, based on patient benefit, contributes to the success of the patient’s diagnosis and treatment process. However, in the last thirty years, there has been a significant transformation in this field due to the effects of some external factors such as health systems, medical technology, medical education, advanced specialization, physician’s patient load, legal regulations, and the media, especially on the physician-patient relationship. This feature of the physician-patient relationship, which is based on ethical values, has been eroded, mechanized and reduced to a service provider-service recipient relationship. The bonds of mutual respect, trust and compassion have started to dissolve, and a new situation of anomie and loss of value has emerged. This new situation has gradually become dominated by domination and violence. Violence is unethical because it is an act that disregards the value of human beings as beings with moral status and dignity, and because it treats human beings as tools. The instrumentalization and devaluation of health workers is one of the main dynamics underlying violence. Violence against healthcare workers is akin to the tip of the iceberg, stemming from various underlying social, economic, political, legal, and cultural factors. However, despite its complexity and multidimensionality, violence against healthcare workers is a preventable issue. In short, it is necessary to combat all factors that lead to violence in the healthcare. It is not enough to rely solely on judicial penalties; necessary adjustments within the healthcare system and the establishment of permanent and sustainable national policies are also vital.