At least 70% of doctors often have to deal with aggressive patients pressuring them in order to obtain money from the healthcare facility, according to a survey conducted by the RNC Pharma analyst company and the platform for doctors Medvestnik. 46% of them encounter such patients from time to time, while 24% say that it occurs “regularly.” Another 26% of the respondents have not personally encountered such patients, but say their colleagues have. Only 3% of the doctors have never even heard of such behavior. Although the situation does not look optimistic, the doctors try to approach this issue in a levelheaded way. In particular, they note that “the ability to resolve conflicts reflects the doctor’s professionalism.” However, they also stress other issues, when, due to the pressure of aggressive patients, the administration of the healthcare facility “sacrifices” the doctor without due investigation. At the same time, the results do not differ too much from region to region. The doctors working in the capital regions, Moscow and St. Petersburg, face the issue about as often as those in the regions. There are also no significant differences in terms of the type of healthcare facilities (i.e. private or public), as well as the gender and age of the respondents: patients do not seem to spare either men or women of any age.

Have you or your colleagues ever encountered threats of legal action or any other form of pressure from patients intending to obtain material benefit from your healthcare facility? (single-answer question)