One year ago the death of Barbara Capovani, psychiatrists in mourning

PISA – One year ago the death of Barbara Capovani, psychiatrists in mourning.

A year ago the death of Barbara Capovanithe hospital psychiatrist Saint Clare of Pisa died on April 23, 2023 after being assaulted by a patient on April 21, 2023.

On Saturday 20 April 2024, psychiatrists across Italy are at work with black armbands to remember Barbara Capovani and to say no to violence against doctors.

There Mario Tobino Foundation inaugurated the historic scientific laboratory of the former psychiatric hospital of Maggiano, Lucca, recently restored, naming it after Barbara Capovani one year after his tragic death.

It was for Barbara Capovani named after the psychiatry department of the Santa Chiara hospital in Pisa.

Liliana dell’Osso, president Italian Society of Psychiatry :“Barbara Capovani was a tireless and passionate psychiatrist, I don’t remember ever seeing her without a smile. She handled every situation in a competent and reassuring way, finding the best solution for everyone.”

For the Italian Society of Psychiatry, “No initiative has achieved its intended aim: increasing safety in the workplace. A torchlight procession with thousands of psychiatrists and healthcare workers in the most important squares in Italy was not enough, letters, interviews and appeals to the institutions and the President of the Republic on the occasion of National Mental Health Day on 20 October were not enough. To date, no concrete response. A second one letter to President Mattarella was recently sent by 450 psychiatrists. Here too, for now, no response.”

For doctors it is aemergency. According to Inail, every year they are over 2 thousand cases of violence in healthcare; 6 thousand in 2020-2022, with an increase of 14% over the previous three years, allowing an easy calculation for 2023: around 2,300 cases, of which the same number are milder and unreported. 34% occur in a psychiatric setting, with 21% in the emergency room.

Liliana Dell’Osso: It’s been a year since his death. A year in which, apart from occasional phrases, the problem of psychiatry in Italy and the safety of the departments (and consequently of the mental health centers) remained buried under a sea ​​of ​​declarations without real solutions. Because the vdaily iolenceto which operators, nurses, psychologists and psychiatric doctors are subjected has now become impossible to quantify, given that the complaints do not provide any confirmation, except in dramatic cases like this or in the case of hospitalization”.

For Sip, “Among the open problems is the abolition of the Lamorgese circular on the prohibition of intervention by the police in emergency rooms and departments, a decision that “disappointed and left doctors and health workers alone in the face of attacks and made the management of violent patients in psychiatry wards is made even more difficult”. A year has passed since his death – recalls Liliana Dell’Osso, president-elect of Sip – A year in which, aside from occasional phrases, the problem of psychiatry in Italy and the safety of departments (and consequently of mental health centers) has remained buried under a sea of ​​declarations without real solutions. Because the daily violence to which operators, nurses, psychologists and psychiatrists are subjected has now become impossible to quantify, given that the complaints do not provide any confirmation, except in dramatic cases like this or in the case of hospitalization”.