I'm confused as to your argument. Are you saying that because someone was attacked that means they SHOULD be emailing this news? I'd bet that most people , being social animals, would rather be told in person, face to face. One outlier doesn't change standard operating procedure.

I am saying that the physician could have logical reasons also to act like that, and that we could be missing some context.

After begin attacked by an enraged patient (or their relatives) I can understand how the physician could develop a phobia to put him/herself in a similar situation again. Just being forced to return to the same workplace day after day can be emotionally draining and very difficult for the physician.

The biggest problem of using e-mail in this case is keeping the privacy of the patient.

You're building a narrative that doesn't exist in the article - there was no mention of a previous violent incident leading to this.

This was just them pulling a stupid, and the hospital apologizing for it.

Not only is email not able to be kept private, you also can't guarantee the patient is going to get it in any sort of timely manner, or in fact, at all. It's also ensuring that no follow up questions can be asked in a timely manner.