Disgruntled relatives attack Wenling hospital and staff after patient death
PUBLISHED : Tuesday, 17 December, 2013, 5:07pm
UPDATED : Tuesday, 17 December, 2013, 5:07pm
Keira Lu Huang [email protected]
Broken chairs lie on the floor at Ruoheng Central Hospital after the conflict. Photo: Screen grab from Weibo
A bereaved family has damaged a county hospital in Wenling and attacked hospital staff members, echoing the deadly hospital violence in Wenling in October.
According to a police report, a local resident named Chen was sent to the Ruoheng Central Hospital, in the eastern coastal province of Zhejiang, around 10pm on Sunday night suffering from the effects of excessive alcohol consumption. He died after receiving a 10-minute intravenous injection, despite emergency rescue efforts.
An hour later, dozens of people including Chen’s family and friends arrived at the hospital and attacked members of staff. Four doctors were injured and the director of the hospital suffered a concussion.
The next morning, a second attack directed at the hospital building resulted in broken windows and doors. The situation was brought under control by a police SWAT team.
A Weibo post from “Angel-m_m”, who works at the hospital, read: “My hospital was damaged again! The whole hospital is in a state of paralysis. His drinking buddies tried to transfer the responsibility of his death to the doctors.” The post also said that rioters shouted to each other “beat those wearing white uniforms, just don’t kill them.”
On October 25, a patient attacked three doctors at Wenling No 1 People’s Hospital with a knife and a hammer, killing the facility’s chief ear, nose and throat specialist.
Five suspects are under investigation. Police refused to release further details and the hospital declined to comment.
