Consultant supports prison sentences for those who assault hospital staff

A consultant in emergency medicine “wholeheartedly” supports a call for mandatory prison sentences for those convicted of assaulting frontline staff following an incident in his own hospital where a nurse suffered a fractured kneecap.

In a wide-ranging interview in today’s Irish Examiner, Dr Adrian Murphy, who works at both the Mercy University Hospital (MUH) and Cork University Hospital (CUH), said violence and aggression “are a regular component of our work environment”.

“Sometimes it’s a manifestation of mental illness or medical illness but often it is as a consequence of intoxication through alcohol or drugs. And occasionally it’s a result of simple badness.