By Kevin M. Mathewson
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia
NANJING, China – A Chinese official and her husband have been detained over an attack on a nurse in Jiangsu province which left the nurse paralyzed, police and state media say.
The incident occurred when the Nanjing Stomatological Hospital arranged for a critically ill male patient to be placed in the same ward where the couple’s daughter was being cared for. After the couple unsuccessfully protested about the male patients placement, Yuan Yaping, the mother, struck a nurse on the back and shoulder with an umbrella and dragged her out of the nurse’s station.
Yuan is deputy director of the government-run Jiangsu Science and Technology Museum in Nanjing and Dong is a senior publicity official at the Jiangsu Provincial Procuratorate office. Both have been suspended by their employers following the alleged attack, media reports said.
Chen Xingyu, the 20-year-old victim remains in the hospital receiving treatment, according to authorities in Nanjing. She has been diagnosed with paralysis of the lower limbs.
“Given that Chen Xingyu has not recovered her functions after a week of medical care, we have decided to place suspect Yuan Yapin under criminal detention, in accordance with the public security bureau’s regulations for injury cases,” police said in a statement.
The case has prompted outrage in China, with the term “Nanjing nurse beaten” becoming the third-most-popular search term on Thursday.
The fact that police took more than a week to detain Yuan has especially angered observers online. Many have blamed police for yielding to the political influence of Yuan’s family and speculated they had hidden major evidence from the public.
Nanjing police later explained they were only able to detain Yuan after the seriousness of Chen’s injuries had been determined by medical experts.
Since the attack, more than 30,000 medical workers have added their names to a website calling for a harmonious relationship between patients and hospitals after the attack. Since the online signature drive was launched on February 28 it has attracted thousands of medical professionals from across the country.
China has seen an outburst of violence against medical staff in recent years and the problem of patient-doctor conflicts has drawn the attention of the central government.
For more information, please see:
BBC News – China nurse ‘paralysed by beating’ from official – 6 March 2014
South China Morning Post – Nurse paralysed as shocking hospital attack by Nanjing official is caught on camera – 6 March 2014
China Daily – Medical workers call for harmony – 6 March 2014
English News – Gov’t official couple punished over nurse’s attack – 6 March 2014
