In extreme cases, doctors now need to arm themselves to fend off potential attacks from patients or their families. Health care has topped Chinese concerns. From Beijing Review magazine (nurses at Shanxia Hospital in helmets at work, via China Daily):
On December 24 hospital staff at Shanxia Hospital (山厦医院), a private 460-bed hospital in the southern city of Shenzhen, were issued with helmets to protect themselves against potential attacks from friends and relatives of the victim of a traffic accident, who had died unexpectedly in the hospital after initially responding well to treatment.
The accident victim’s family demanded compensation but refused to allow an autopsy to be performed on the body as suggested by the hospital. Meanwhile, the hospital’s president objected to being made to pay compensation to the victim’s family without an autopsy to confirm the cause of death.
While the Shenzhen situation is extreme, it reflects growing tension between staff and patients across China, according to Mao Qun’an, a spokesman for the Ministry of Health. “The hostility between hospitals and patients has never been more outstanding in Chinese history,” he said. [Full Text]
