Family doctors and their staff face regular death threats from angry patients vowing to burn down their homes and hunt down their children as a GP shortage reaches crisis point. International travel bans are preventing the recruitment of more doctors from some countries, exacerbating jammed appointment schedules across the state. Rising populations and a flood of patients seeking help for serious mental health conditions and substance abuse are also being blamed for the shocking rise in abuse, with receptionists being abused and insulted daily as they tell desperate patients that they can t squeeze them. Family First Medical Centre practice manager Carrie Norval outlined the extent of the threats in a Facebook post that sparked dozens of doctors and practice managers from Bundaberg to Brisbane to reveal they too live in fear and their work situation has become unbearable.