Two detained for attacking doctor in central China
Xinhua, February 26, 2015 Adjust font size:
Two people have been arrested for "causing public disorder" at a hospital in central China, local authorities said Thursday.
The incident took place at Suixian Chinese Medicine Hospital in Suixian County, Henan Province, on Feb. 21, when relatives of Xu, a patient, had an altercation with Huang, a doctor, who they blamed for not saving Xu's life.
Xu committed suicide by drinking pesticide, according to local police.
The suspects, Xuan and Xu, had verbally and physically attacked the doctor and damaged medical equipment, the police said.
After the incident, rumors surfaced on the Internet that the two men had forced the doctor to drink urine. Police refuted the reports.
The investigation continues.
Doctor-patient relations in China have been marred by incidents of this kind.
According to the National Health and Family Planning Commission, there were 115,000 medical disputes in 2014, a decline of 8.7 percent over 2013.
Last month, a doctor and a patient fell in an elevator shaft and died during a brawl in Luanchuan County, Henan. In 2014, a doctor from northeast China's Heilongjiang Province was beaten to death by a patient.
A guideline released in April 2014 defined six types of criminal disruption of medical work that will be severely punished, including attacking doctors, damaging public property and insulting medical workers. Endi