Future doctors turned off by hospital attacks
- By Wan Lixin
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E-mail Shanghai Daily, March 12, 2014
Violent patient-doctor confrontations in hospitals has been growing so fast that it was brought up on several occasions during the annual sessions of the National People's Congress.
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Malfunctioned filter [By Jiao Haiyang/China.org.cn] |
On March 7, while attending a provincial panel discussion, President Xi Jinping weighed in by saying that any violence against the medical professionals should be dealt with to the fullest extent of the law.
On March 6 about 90 deputies from the medical sector submitted an emergency bill proposing that hospitals be accorded heightened security status as "public space," like banks.
On March 5 in Chaozhou, Guangdong Province, a patient failed to respond to emergency treatment and died of alcoholic poisoning.
The patient's relatives manhandled a doctor and marched him down the streets in a parade. Three of the relatives were detained by police.
In 2013, there were around 70,000 cases of medical disputes in China, according to a recent seminar in Shanghai.
Some medical experts believe that number to be an underestimate, for many hospitals choose to pacify troublemakers by paying them off.
These disputes are more concentrated in developed eastern China, particularly in Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou, where a relatively larger share of medical resources tends to attract more complicated cases.
In a particularly dark period, since late October, within 10 days, there had been seven attacks in hospitals that led to the death of three medical professionals nationwide.
In Nanjing, Jiangsu Province, a nurse remained paralyzed after being assaulted by a woman official on February 25.
As the assailant's husband was an official in a local prosecutor's office, there has been considerable concern over whether law enforcement can handle the case properly and impartially.
Following public outrage, the woman was detained by police a week after the incident.
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