In Britain there is a problem from patients, especially in A&E (Accident and Emergency), turning physically violent again those trying to help them. See this link:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/4830976.stm

What is the mentality behind such behaviour? Does anyone know?

Hmmm. Presumably there are several factors, firstly some people will be under the influence of drink/drugs, but also there is the fear factor. Some people attending A&E, either for themselves or their family members, will be very anxious and the lengthy waiting time can make matters worse. One hears of waiting times of hours in some hospitals, I gues when you are in pain or the person you are with is in pain, then you get uptight. I guess we want staff to attend to us NOW, not in three or four hours time.

Hospital staff do a wonderful job, generally speaking. I know when I attended A&E at the Northern General in Sheffield the staff were great. They had a colour-code system, life threatening conditions were red, then they had other colours like blue, green, yellow, black. Reception told you in which colour seat to sit once you had reported 'at the window'. I was put in red and was seen in a couple of minutes, then they apologised for the wait! I was in the department for five hours while they conducted tests and had them processed.

They ought not be abused, they deserve medals.

Having been in a hospital casualty unit quite recently I am sorry to say that i witnessed a deal of loud, loutish and, on occasions, aggressive behaviour. Some of this was attributable to people clearly under the influence of alcohol and / or drugs. Perhaps these bring to the surface attitudes already close to the surface in some people. It is only in some. Others who had drink taken were actually quite affable towards other patients and staff and some, whilst more boisterous were not offensive.

Some people have grown unduly litigious on the one hand and threaten all kinds of legal action if not attended to immediately. Some seem to have little idea of or empathy with, the illnesses of others. There are those who seem to recognise only their rights as opposed to their responsilities in respect of being seen.

There is also, in my view, a decline in simple courtesy and respect for the work and effort of people in various of the public services. Whilst I agree with the idea of stiffer penalties for those who are aggressive or violent to hospital staff, I also wonder why it should stop there - aren't staff in schools, health and social service agencies etc, etc entitled to the same solicitude for their welfare?

The psychology of individuals and groups who are violent may have something to do with an overall decline in respect because of fragmentation of society and breakdown in that cohesiveness that came from parishes, schools, parents in the past. It will probably be alleged that it is up to schools to educate some of the louts out of this behaviour. If schools were to cover all the topics demanded of them - health education, drugs education, reasons not to stone police, ambulance crews and fire officers, traffic rules, parenting skills and so on -- I can actually name 10 issues that I have heard advocated as fit matter for schools to address and redress--then little else would be done.

Simple courtesy, non-aggressive and non-violent conduct and recognition of the rights of others should begin at home. Parents are the first educators and have the responsibility for ensuring that their children's motivation and behaviour takes account of the needs and wishes of others.

Thank goodness for the expertise, patience and forebearance of most of our nurses, doctors, teachers, emergency services. We owe it to them all to open up the debate as to why such things are happening in our society.

At least in the US, some of the violence is done by people who were injured during a violent act themselves. A lot of the injuries that come into the emergency room are related to violence and a fair bit of them also have alcohol or drugs involved. I've actually known someone who beat up a nurse because they were brought in after a knife fight over cocaine and wanted to get out of the emergency room before they were arrested. I'm sure that stress of waiting and pain and general bad manners contribute to some of that violence, but I'd bet that most of it has to do with drinking, drugs or something illegal.