Austrian doctors speak out after suicide of GP following Covid threats

[Celerity]

Lisa-Maria Kellermayr was targeted by conspiracy theorists and anti-vaxxers before taking her own life

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/aug/02/austria-doctors-demand-more-protection-lisa-maria-kellermayr-death



Austrian medical representatives have called for greater protection for doctors after a GP who faced months of violent threats from anti-vaccination activists and pandemic conspiracy theorists took her own life. Lisa-Maria Kellermayr was found dead in her practice in the lakeside resort of Seewalchen am Attersee on Friday. Prosecutors told the media they found three suicide notes and were not planning to carry out an autopsy.

Her death prompted a wave of vigils and demonstrations. There have also been calls for laws against bullying and psychological warfare to be tightened, including making it easier to prosecute perpetrators in other EU countries, after at least two of the people believed to have targeted Kellermayr with death threats were identified as coming from Germany. Thousands of people gathered outside St Stephen’s Cathedral in Vienna on Monday evening and across the country to pay tribute to Kellermayr, 36, in candlelight vigils. Many participants wore pink, her favourite colour. The Austrian president,

Alexander Van der Bellen, led the tributes, laying flowers outside Kellermayr’s practice and appealing for an end “to this intimidation and fear-mongering”. Kellermayr was described by her friends, family and patients as a passionate, caring and plain-speaking doctor who lived for her work. At the start of the pandemic, she volunteered to visit coronavirus patients in their homes for weeks of round-the-clock shifts, telling her friends and family that as a single person with no dependants, “I belong on the frontline”. She was one of the earliest people to share her observations that patients who used asthma inhalers were often better able to deal with the symptoms of the virus.

Kellermayr was also an enthusiastic supporter of vaccines, sharing her thoughts and ideas on Twitter, and was interviewed regularly, earning praise for her clear communication. However, she drew a wave of hate mail after tweeting her fury when, in November 2021, anti-vaccination demonstrators and supporters of the “Querdenker” coronavirus conspiracy theory movement surrounded a clinic she had worked at in nearby Wels and blocked a main entrance used by emergency vehicles.

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Meet Germany's 'Querdenker' COVID protest movement

They act like a peace movement, but Querdenker march alongside the far-right, and their protests often end in violence. A look into the people behind the protests.

https://www.dw.com/en/meet-germanys-querdenker-covid-protest-movement/a-57049985



The trained business administrator Michael Ballweg founded the Querdenker (lateral thinkers) movement in the city of Stuttgart in 2020. Organizing it has become his full-time job, as the movement has spread.

The Querdenker include pandemic sceptics, anti-vaxxers and anti-lockdown protesters. They claim the COVID-19 pandemic and the federal and regional laws aimed at halting the spread of the virus, infringe on citizens' liberties.

Now, protesters regularly take to the streets in cities across the country. Often the demonstrations turn violent.

But images of clashes between demonstrators and police do not fit the image the Querdenker like to create for themselves. Michael Ballweg and his followers are always quick to emphasize their peacefulness and loyalty to the German Constitution.

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