Marco Pucher, who was responsible for the personal protection of the 36-year-old as the operator of a security company, was also deeply affected by the suicide of the Seewalchner general practitioner Lisa-Maria Kellermayr. As reported, the woman had been exposed to online hate speech, insults and even death threats from the anti-vaccination scene for months until she finally closed her ordination in July. The doctor was found dead last Friday.
“Lisa was a 100 percent doctor. She was so extremely caring, her work and her patients were everything to her,” says the bodyguard, whom the 36-year-old had hired since November 2021. “When I had Corona myself, she drove to me in the middle of the night and put an asthma spray in my mailbox,” recalls the security contractor. He himself was not vaccinated, said Pucher, “but that was never a debate between us.”
“She was terrified”
He was with her in the surgery almost every day, says the bodyguard, for eight to ten hours. “There’s a certain relationship formed there.” His client was terrified. “I never saw her go away, she locked herself in. The whole situation was killing her.” Kellermayr hoped that the public sector would reimburse at least part of their security costs. But promises were often only followed by excuses. “When her practice went haywire, her world collapsed.”
Kellermayr believed that he was not getting enough protection and felt let down by politicians, says Pucher. The bodyguard cannot remember any dangerous situations in the surgery. “I took a knife from two or three patients who came to the practice. Lisa was completely horrified. I tried to calm her down and said that construction site workers sometimes had someone insert a knife.” There had been two incidents involving “provocative people”. Pucher knows that it has so far been possible to find out who wrote the threatening letter. But nothing could be pinned on the man. “We’re coming to get you” do not constitute a criminal offence, it was said.
“I can’t look into the investigation,” says the bodyguard. But the police don’t have the options that a hacker has, he says. “They have to obey the law.” But he would not claim that the police did not keep a watchful eye on the ordination, says Pucher. The executive knew that there was private personal protection. “It just depended on which party was on duty. But in the old practice, the officials stopped by almost every day.”
Video: Crisis Aid Upper Austria supports people in difficult life situations. OÖN-TV spoke to team leader Elisabeth Hack about her work and how to deal with crises.
Are you in a desperate situation and need help? Talk to other people about it. The Ministry of Health’s Suicide Prevention Portal offers support for people with suicidal thoughts and their families. There you will find the contact details of numerous aid organizations in Austria.
Source: Nachrichten
