Two-thirds of B.C. doctors said they do not feel their workplace effectively addresses situations that may threaten or harm employees.

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.

Some health-care workers are beaten so badly they have to be admitted through the same chaotic emergency rooms.

“We’ve had female physicians threatened with rape and sexual assault. There was a circumstance where a patient had tried to kick and hit a pregnant physician. 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.

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.

“Emergency rooms are congested. Anger and resentment starts to grow, and that anger is directed at us.”

But an emergency room is not a place he would take his daughter for her school’s “take your kids to work” day.

“It’s a very scary environment,” he said.

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 protection for physicians.

A Doctors of B.C. survey of 2,300 physicians in the province last year found that 51 per cent had experienced incidents of physical or psychological abuse in the past year while working in community clinics and hospitals. 

Lail said in addition to the violence, many doctors, including him, deal with racism and racist slurs when patients lash out. While mental health problems 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.

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.

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 waitlists for patients.

“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.

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.

The survey also found that two-thirds of doctors do not feel their workplace effectively addresses situations that may threaten or harm employees, such as harassment, discrimination, or violence.

Doctors of B.C. is calling for increased hospital security, investment in real-time incident reporting, stronger incident response, and added preventive measures to address violence in health-care settings.

For example, Thompson said there could be more security guards visible to patients and alarms to call security in other health-care settings rather than just mental health units.

Currently, the way incidents are reported varies among the different health authorities, he said. He would like to see a more standardized way for physicians to report abuse.

“Really, physicians just want to make sure that they are being heard when they report an incident. And I would think the same for other health-care providers.”

For Lail, the top problem that needs to be addressed is emergency room congestion. The more patients that have to sleep in the hallways while waiting, the greater the chances of patients becoming angry and abusive, he said.

Doctors of B.C. is also calling for “urgent mental health and addictions services,” something the province says it has addressed.

B.C.’s Health Ministry said by email on Tuesday that said “violence has absolutely no place in any workplace,” and ensuring hospitals and clinics are safe places to work is a top priority.”

The ministry said it has fulfilled a pledge to create 320 security officer positions, and that has grown to 781 full-time positions.

B.C. is also expanding mental health and addictions services and treatment, including expanding free or low-cost counselling, adding 860 treatment and recovery beds since 2017, and expanding care for people who are admitted involuntarily. The ministry added that two involuntary care sites are now open in Surrey and Maple Ridge, with two more planned for Prince George and Surrey.

According to the survey, doctor satisfaction with the health authority they work for has fallen by four cent since 2023. The decrease in satisfaction levels fell the most in the Interior Health Authority (down 12 per cent), followed by Fraser Health Authority (down nine per cent), and then the Island Health Authority (down one per cent). The numbers for Vancouver Coastal and Northern Health remained unchanged since the 2023 survey (61 per cent satisfied with VCH and 36 per cent satisfied with Northern Health.