Chinese man detained over attack on doctors who refused to give his wife a caesarean
One medic was left with a fractured jaw and eye socket after assault in Beijing hospital
Beijing police have detained a man on suspicion of beating up three doctors after they refused to give his wife a caesarean.
Surveillance video footage showing the attack on surgeon He Yingdong and his two colleagues went viral online after the incident last month at Peking University First Hospital. He suffered a fractured jaw and eye sockets.
The suspect’s daughter, a 19-year-old university student, was briefly detained but given bail after she showed remorse for joining the attack and the most seriously injured doctor expressed forgiveness, The Beijing News reported.
The assault was triggered when the father, surnamed Zheng, was told by He that his wife, surnamed Sun, should not undergo a caesarean on medical grounds.
But because the baby was already late, Zheng feared complications and wanted a C-section right away rather than wait for a natural delivery.
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He’s colleagues had previously concluded the Sun, 44, who has been suffering from hypertension for the last seven years could still try to give birth naturally because her blood pressure had been kept under control, according to San Jia Chuan Zhen, a WeChat account that specialises in medical news.
The next day doctors relented and gave Sun a caesarean, delivering a baby girl.
Police did not put Zheng under criminal detention until Friday because Sun needed him to take care of her and the newborn. The police also decided to allow bail for the couple’s elder daughter, a first-year student at Capital Normal University.
Both Zheng and the daughter had been under police observation since the attack.
The hospital issued a statement last week condemning the violence against doctors.
“We unswervingly safeguard medical staff’s dignity,” said the statement. “We call for a firm crackdown against those who attack medical staff.”
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The Capital Normal University has said it reserved “serious punishment” for Zheng’s elder daughter, the Jiefang Daily reports.
Attacks on medical staff frequently occur in China, as patients take out their frustrations over long queues to see doctors and overcrowded, underresourced facilities.
A doctor was killed and two of his colleagues were injured in 2013 by a knife-wielding man at Wenling No 1 People’s Hospital in Zhejiang.
The killer was executed two years later.
The Ministry of Public Security warned on Saturday that it had zero tolerance for hospital violence. “The police authority has been carrying out a severe crackdown on hospital-related violent crimes,” it said on its Weibo account.
