Tuesday, October 29, 2019

Health Ministry Story

If you follow German news over the past couple of years, there's been this strange phenomenon that has occurred in metropolitan regions of Germany....attacks against emergency ambulance crews, doctors responding to emergency calls, and hospital staff members. 

When you dig through the various reports, it usually points the finger of blame at three distinctive groups: (1) drunk or doped-up Germans on the street, (2) crime clan groups, or (3) migrants challenging the help or assistance (usually under the influence of drugs or alcohol). 

These events usually have the mayor or city council in an uproar, and having to answer to the general public why violence is being conducted. 

Well, today....the head of the Health Ministry (Spahn, CDU) has come out and said he's ready for legislative action (similar to the law from 2017 that sets legal measures against anyone halting or harming police or fire department members).  In that measure....you can be given up to five years in prison if you harm or disrupt a person trying to conduct official duty (in police or rescue measures). 

The problem I see is that the accused will end up admitting some alcohol use or drug use.....then ask the judge to throw that accusation out.  Judges might be under more pressure to push back, and hand out a minimum of six months in jail.

A big deal?  If you work as an ambulance driver/crew in Frankfurt, you might witness some threat once in a while, and it's probably more so with the drunk or doped-up crowd.  In some smaller towns in the Pfalz?  You might go twenty years and never see any threat made on a rescue call. 

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