Naples – Yet another serious incident of violence has occurred in the emergency room at San Paolo Hospital in Fuorigrotta. A nurse engaged in delicate triage tasks was slapped in the face by a patient, an act that embodied "the usual scenario resulting from a short circuit between intolerance and violence," as staff reported.
The brutal incident occurred late yesterday afternoon. According to Manuel Ruggiero, a doctor on the 118 emergency service and curator of the Nessuno Tocchi Ippocrate Facebook page, the nurse was attacked "around 19:30 PM" by "a woman in her forties, presumably a drug addict, who claimed to be experiencing withdrawal symptoms."
The attack was described as "without any apparent motive" while the healthcare worker was caring for another patient. The victim immediately alerted law enforcement and, after the medical report, was given a three-day prognosis.
The gesture, presumably committed in a context of hardship and dependence, reignites the debate on the nature of these acts.
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"Many of these cases are mistakenly classified as psychiatric simply because they are carried out by subjects with behavioral problems or drug use and abuse," explains Errico.
"The key element to consider is antisocial personality disorder, which isn't necessarily related to a psychiatric disorder. Rather, violent tendencies are the result of delinquent behaviors that must be comprehensively analyzed, obviously taking into account the individual's heritage and personal history."
The attack at the San Paolo is not an isolated incident, but rather a sad development in a wave of violence affecting healthcare workers. Yesterday's attack was the 46th of 2025, out of a total of 60 incidents reported between the Naples 1 and Naples 2 local health authorities since the beginning of the year.
There is, however, a tentative sign of improvement compared to 2024, a decline attributed primarily to the recent deployment of police squads in Naples' main emergency rooms, including the San Paolo, at the initiative of the Ministry of the Interior. Despite the safety measures, the daily plight of healthcare workers remains a constant emergency that requires more effective responses.
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