Patient stabs auxiliary nurse at mental health facility in Malaga town of Estepona

An auxiliary nurse was stabbed by a patient in the ‘La Casa del Mar’ mental health centre in the town of Estepona in Malaga province.

A patient of the ‘La Casa del Mar’ mental health centre in the Malaga town of Estepona stabbed an administrative assistant in his side with a kitchen knife on Wednesday, March 1. The aggressor was subsequently arrested by the National Police for his attack on 57-year-old Francisco Murillo in the incident that occurred in the facility on Calle Cristobal Colon.

Francisco explained to Cadena Ser on Friday 3 that he felt a sharp jab in his side, after hearing the alleged assailant say to him: “I’m going to kill you”.

All this happened after the patient entered the building saying that he heard voices and that he wanted to be seen by the psychiatrist handling his case. The victim explained how, after turning to fill out a chart, he noticed the stab wound in his stomach.

The alleged aggressor had a restraining order in place prohibiting him from entering the facility as this was not the first time that he had arrived at the facility armed to be seen by a doctor. He was detained after this latest incident but has since been released.

Ironically, Murillo was only on duty that day because he was covering the sick leave of another auxiliary who had to stop going to work precisely because of the history and threats received by this same patient.

Manuel Gonzalez Molinier is a psychiatrist at the mental health centre in the Costa del Sol town of Fuengirola. It is part of the Clinical Management Unit of the Hospital Virgen de la Victoria, on which depends a very large area of the province. Its facilities include those in Estepona, Marbella, Fuengirola, Mijas, Benalmadena, Valle del Guadalhorce and in the capital, Puerta Blanca, Carranque and El Consul.

He reported that doctors from these medical facilities are preparing mobilisations to denounce not only this new aggression to a sanitary worker but to the structural problem that in his opinion many mental health centres suffer.

“We want to make it very clear that we are not only protesting for our own situation, but also for that of our users, who are other major victims. In addition, there are patients in vulnerable situations, and also children,” explained Molinier.

Most of the facilities where psychiatrists are obliged to consult do not even meet the minimum requirements for healthcare he criticised. “There is no security, the police do not come, there are no other colleagues who can alert the authorities while trying to resolve the conflict, and there are no gun control devices at the entrances. The feeling of lack of protection is very great”. he denounced.

“We are dozens of psychiatrists who are very concerned about the professionals and the population we serve. When a person bursts in with such a violent attitude in our centres, it is no longer just a matter of attending to their requests. In many cases they are peremptory, but it goes beyond that and, as has materialised in this incident, crimes of threats and aggression occur, although these are exceptional situations”.

The National Police has taken charge of the investigation and the Estepona court must now set a date for the oral hearing and decide the situation of the alleged aggressor. For the moment, he is at liberty, which worries the staff of the mental health centre, who fear that the incident may be repeated, as reported by laopiniondemalaga.es.

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