A hospital in China is under investigation after a surgeon allegedly punched a patient during surgery, a video of which circulated widely on Chinese social media, sparking public outrage.
The hospital’s parent company, Aier China, has taken action by suspending the surgeon and dismissing the hospital’s CEO from their role, pertaining to the incident that occurred in 2019.
The footage depicts the surgeon purportedly striking the patient multiple times on the head while performing eye surgery.
Aier China, operating a chain of eye hospitals, acknowledged the incident took place during an operation at its Guigang hospital in southwestern China.
The patient, an 82-year-old woman, reportedly exhibited discomfort due to local anesthesia, leading to involuntary movements during the surgery.
The company stated that because the patient spoke a local dialect and seemingly did not respond to warnings in Mandarin, the surgeon reacted roughly in an emergency situation, resulting in the patient sustaining bruises on her forehead.
Following the surgery, the hospital issued an apology and provided 500 yuan ($70, £55) in compensation to the patient’s family, as reported by the patient’s son in local media.
He mentioned his mother’s subsequent blindness in her left eye, although the direct cause remains unclear.
Aier China disclosed that the hospital failed to report the incident to headquarters.
Consequently, the company announced the dismissal of the hospital’s CEO and the suspension of the surgeon, who also serves as the hospital’s dean, for “serious violations of the group’s regulations” and unspecified other offenses.
Despite the incident occurring in 2019, it gained public attention this week after Dr. Ai Fen, a prominent Chinese doctor associated with raising early alerts during the Wuhan Covid outbreak, shared the surgery’s CCTV footage on her Weibo account, which boasts over two million followers.
Dr. Ai has been in legal disputes with Aier China since 2021 after undergoing an operation at one of their hospitals. She alleged a risk of blindness in one eye due to that surgery, a claim that Aier China has refuted.
Source-BBC
