Medical Staff Vulnerable to Sexual Abuse
By Bae Ji-sook
Staff Reporter
Fifteen percent of hospital staff say they have experienced sexual harassment or violence from doctors, patients and even caregivers, a medical workers' union said Thursday.
The Korea Health and Medical Workers' Union polled 1,670 nurses, therapists and other administrative staff at 48 hospitals nationwide on sexual harassment in the workplace.
Among the offenders, 38.7 percent were doctors and 14.7 percent were residents. Patients and their caregivers accounted for about 14 percent.
Most of the harassment occurred at dinner tables, sickbeds and operating and treatment rooms.
The majority of the victims said offenders should be punished and be required to take sexual harassment classes. About 44 percent said their workplaces had no system to prevent or punish such wrongdoings, making things harder on the victims.
``Sexual harassment and violence, such as yelling, swearing or throwing stuff at staff are chronic problems at hospitals," the union spokesman said. "Just looking at or talking about someone with a sexual connotation can be considered sexual harassment, while swearing or talking about a person's flaws in public is insulting. Not many offenders are aware of this.''
``These offenses could lower the quality of medical service as a whole, and we urge hospitals and medical organizations to help prevent such events from happening.''