We want to express our strong support for the initiative of the Ministry of Justice to correct its earlier mistake and re-include the criminal offense of "Assault on a doctor while providing medical assistance" in the Criminal Code of Montenegro, the Union of Doctors of Medicine of Montenegro (SDMCG) announced today.
They announced what they said was "the reason for the increasingly frequent attacks on doctors in the workplace".
The SDMCG states that in 2020 they prepared a proposal for amendments to the Criminal Code of Montenegro, which was approved in the same year with the support of Professor Branka Bošnjak and the Parliament of Montenegro.
"In January 2021, the norm from Article 152a - Assault on a doctor while providing medical assistance began to be applied. This article of the Criminal Code was deleted after three years, in January 2024, at the proposal of the Ministry of Justice of Montenegro," it is emphasized. in the SDMCG announcement signed by Milena Popović Samardžić.
The SDMCG said that as the reason for the abolition of the criminal offense "Assault on a doctor while providing medical assistance", the Ministry of Justice states: "The need to delete Article 152a arose because of the Law on Amendments and Supplements to the Criminal Code of Montenegro ("SI. list of Montenegro ", No. 145/2021), in Article 142 of the Criminal Code of Montenegro, the above-mentioned term 'Jobs of public importance' was introduced, which includes professions or duties that are associated with an increased risk for the safety of persons who perform them in the fields of public information, health protection and legal assistance before judicial and other state bodies. Also, qualified forms of certain criminal offenses (serious murder, serious bodily injury, coercion and endangering security) were introduced when these offenses were committed against persons performing tasks of public importance in connection with In this way, the greatest possible criminal-legal protection is provided for doctors when providing medical assistance, so by deleting the above-mentioned article, they are not put in a less favorable position, compared to the protection provided to them by the article that has been deleted."
"However, we warned that empirical data from court practice did not support the above-mentioned claim of the Ministry. Thus, by looking at the decisions of basic courts for the period 2022-2024, that is, from the introduction of qualified criminal offenses committed against persons who perform tasks of public importance , it follows that in accordance with these provisions, a total of one person was convicted for an attack on a journalist, by the judgment of the Basic Court in Nikšić, business code K 220/2022, for the commission of a criminal offense - coercion in an attempt from Article 165 paragraph 3 in connection with paragraphs 2 and 1 in connection with Article 20 of the Criminal Code of Montenegro, which sentenced the defendant EL to a suspended prison sentence of 4 (four) months. 152a of the Criminal Code of Montenegro, a total of 4 judgments were pronounced by the basic courts in the cases of business designations: K 49/2022, K 255/2022, K 219/2022 and K 82/2023, of which the court pronounced against two defendants prison terms of 5 months and 3 months, while for the other perpetrators, three of them, he imposed suspended prison sentences," the SDMCG statement reads.
They state that it is clear from the number of judgments, but also from the type and severity of the imposed sanctions, that significantly more effective criminal protection was provided by the deleted criminal offense from Article 152a of the Criminal Code than qualified forms of criminal offenses related to affairs of public importance.
"This is supported by the fact that according to the current criminal law model, none of the mentioned perpetrators would be punished nor would the cases receive a criminal law epilogue, because the infliction of minor physical injuries is not prosecuted by official duty, but by the injured party's private lawsuit. For the same reason, by by all accounts, the ODT will not be able to qualify even the latest attacks on the doctors of ZU Urgent Medical Assistance as criminal acts," said the SDMVG.
They say that as far as the nature of the criminal offense - "Assault on a doctor while providing medical assistance" is concerned, the protected good is the physical integrity of the doctor, but not because of the increased risk to the safety of persons engaged in health care, but because of the dangers that this criminal offense can have health care system and for the health of citizens.
"It should be pointed out here that by inflicting even minor physical injuries on a doctor during or in connection with the provision of health care, there will be a discontinuity in the functioning of the health care system if he, justifiably, leaves the workplace after the attack, or an increased risk of medical error and serious consequences for the health of the patients, if the doctor decides to stay at the workplace health care is provided. Therefore, it is clear that by deleting this article, the former state of de facto impunity for a large number of 'petty' crimes, which may have invisible but certainly serious consequences for the health system, is repeated , in a statistically negligible number of criminal offenses such as: murder, grievous bodily harm, coercion and endangering safety, are not a substitute for the deleted criminal offense Assault on a doctor while providing medical assistance", stated the SDMCG.
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