More than 200 doctors from Yueyang in Hunan Province staged a protest in front of the local government building on August 21 after a doctor from Yueyang Second People’s Hospital was badly beaten by the family of a hospital patient who died following emergency treatment, reported Beijing News on Wednesday.

The injured doctor is currently hospitalized after the furious family members dragged him in front of the patient’s body, demanding the doctor to kneel down to show his remorse for his failure to save the patient’s life, the report said. The hospital, however, claimed the patient had already lost his pulse when he arrived on August 20 at noon, and after emergency treatment, the patient was announced dead around 14:30.

After beating the doctor, the patient’s family allegedly vandalized the hospital and blockaded the hospital gate, sparky an outcry from doctors at the hospital and other doctors in the city. More than 200 health practitioners in the city marched to pressure leaders to look into the case to ensure a safer working environment for doctors, the report said. “We feel worried at work without a sense of security,” a doctor said.

The doctors were seen holding placards reading “respecting doctors, respecting life” and “punish doctor-beating criminals”. The head of the Yueyang Health Bureau said it is now investigating the case, and confirmed the patient’s family vandalized the hospital. The local police are also looking into the case.

This is the fourth time conflicts have broken out between doctors and patients at the Yueyang Second People’s Hospital in the past month, galvanizing the already strained doctor-patient relationship, according to the report.

Earlier in the month, a similar incident happened in Xiangtan county in Hunan after families blamed a local hospital for negligence for saving a pregnant woman after suffering a rare birth complication.

Photos: Sina Weibo