Two-thirds of B.C. doctors said they do not feel their workplace effectively addresses situations that may threaten or harm employees.
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As an emergency room physician at Surrey Memorial Hospital, Dr. Amoljeet Lail says he witnesses horrific acts of violence and abuse against the medical team every day.
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Some health-care workers are beaten or stabbed so badly they have to be admitted through the same chaotic emergency room.
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“We’vehad femalephysiciansthreatenedwithrapeandsexualassault. We’ve had patients hit and kick pregnant physicians. I’ve seen patients having to be pulled off of nurses while they’re being choked on the ground. Nurses have had chunks taken out of their arms,” he said.
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Lail said he doesn’t want to demonize anyone going through a crisis. Often being in emergency is the worst time in someone’s life and there is frustration, he said.
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“Emergency rooms are congested. Anger and resentment starts to grow and that anger is directed at us.”
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But an emergency room is not a place he’d take his daughter on her school’s take-your-kids-to-work day.
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“It’s a very scary environment,” he said.
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More than half of B.C. doctors say they were harmed in their workplace last year, according to Doctors of B.C., which has launched a campaign to ask the provincial government for more protections for physicians.
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A Doctors of B.C. survey of 2,300 B.C. physicians found that 51 per cent had experienced incidents of physical or psychological abuse in the past year while working in community clinics and hospitals.
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Lail said in addition to the violence, many doctors, including himself, deal with racism and racist slurs when patients lash out. While mental health issues are part of the issue, Lail said the vast majority of abuse is coming from patients behaving badly. And, he added female staff suffer the brunt of the abuse.
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Previous surveys show the number of doctors impacted by violence in 2020 was 46 per cent, jumping to 50 per cent in 2021, and then dropping slightly to 49 per cent in 2022 and 2023.
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Dr. Adam Thompson, president of Doctors of B.C., says the spike to 51 per cent in 2025 is concerning, as it indicates that additional measures are needed to curtail the increase in harm. He noted that violence exacerbates burnout and increases the burden on remaining physicians, leading to longer wait lists for patients.
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“Physicians are already working in a strained health-care system, and that is causing them burnout. So this just amplifies the burnout, and then the consequence of that is that the physicians are having to take time away from work to recover, which then increases the burden on physicians left behind, which increases the frustration on the patients not being able to access care as easily,” said Thompson.
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He noted the rise in the number of doctors reporting harm reflects a growing frustration with long wait times, but when people take out their frustration on doctors it puts the system under more strain.
