Violence Against Doctors in Hospitals: Causes, Risk Factors, and Prevention Strategies
Violence against physicians by patients and their family members has become a growing concern in hospitals worldwide and a new narrative review published in Cureus (July 2026) takes a close look at why it happens and what can be done about it.
Why relatives, specifically?
The review highlights something often overlooked: patients’ relatives and companions aren’t bystanders in the care process. They frequently act as caregivers, advocates, and financial decision-makers, and they often serve as the go-between for the patient and the care team. When fear, uncertainty, a poor prognosis, or long waits collide with unmet expectations, that role can turn into aggression toward staff.
Two lenses on the problem
The authors frame hospital violence through two complementary perspectives.
- Organizational factors: overcrowding, understaffing, long wait times, limited resources, weak security, and poor incident-reporting systems all raise the temperature in a clinical environment.
- Interpersonal conflict: when a family’s emotional needs and expectations don’t match the clinical reality, triage priorities, or available resources, tension builds.
Communication: the most fixable piece
Perhaps the most useful takeaway for practicing physicians is that communication breakdown is repeatedly identified as one of the most modifiable drivers of aggression. Inconsistent or incomplete information about diagnosis, prognosis, delays, or triage decisions can turn a worried family member into an angry one; not because of malice, but because uncertainty and silence are hard to sit with.
The ripple effects
The consequences described go well beyond the incident itself: anxiety and burnout among staff, lower morale, more defensive medical practice, disrupted teamwork, underreporting of violent incidents, and ultimately risks to patient safety itself. In other words, this isn’t just a workplace safety issue, it’s a healthcare quality issue.
What helps
The review points toward practical, hospital-level prevention strategies, including:
- Communication skills training for staff
- Structured, regular family updates during long waits or emergencies
- Visible explanations of triage decisions
- Clear communication about expected wait times
- Environmental and security improvements
- Better incident reporting systems
- Leadership accountability
- Support systems for staff after an incident occurs
The bigger picture
The authors suggest future research should look more specifically at patients’ relatives as a distinct group, particularly in emergency departments, large tertiary hospitals, and resource-limited settings, where the pressures that fuel conflict are often most intense.
Source: Elbahi M K, Hamadelnil A, Mohammed B, et al. (July 11, 2026) Violence Against Doctors by Patients and Their Relatives in Hospital Settings: A Narrative Review of Risk Factors, Communication Failures, and Prevention Strategies. Cureus 18(7): e112468. doi:10.7759/cureus.112468