A Chinese court sentenced a teenager to life in prison Friday for
killing a medical intern and stabbing three other workers at a northeastern
hospital in a case seen as a symptom of frustration over a dysfunctional health
care system.
Li Mengnan's knifing rampage at
the hospital in March has become a focal point of anger over inadequacies in
China's medical system. In handing down a heavy sentence, authorities were
likely hoping to deter other similar attacks.
The father of the 28-year-old
intern Li killed said in a phone interview that the outcome of the case was as
he had expected.
"From a legal perspective,
the court's decision was fair. But in my heart, it is still unfair," Wang
Dongqing said. "My son was taken from me. Even if they had sentenced him
to death, it would have been unfair."
Li, 17, typifies the patient that
the ailing public health system has failed: Faced with a serious illness that
could not be treated by health facilities in his native Inner Mongolia, Li
turned to the best hospital in the region. But there, the teenager from a poor
farming family encountered high expenses, fleeting consultations and, his
relatives say, a misdiagnosis.
Despite public sympathy for the
assailant, members of the medical community called for a severe punishment to
show zero tolerance for violence against health workers. Many doctors rallied
around the victims, saying they've been unfairly demonized by the public and
media for widespread corruption that they blame on systemic factors.
Despite the Chinese government
injecting more than $240 billion of extra funding into health care over the
past three years, the doctor-patient relationship has continued to break down.
Doctors are overworked and underpaid, and many push drug sales or charge extra
for services to make more money.
Patients are faced with high
medical expenses, brief consultations and often poor quality care.
A court in the northeastern city
of Harbin found Li guilty of intentional homicide and sentenced him Friday
morning, his uncle, Li Chunming, told The Associated Press by phone. The court
decided against a death sentence because he is not yet 18, the age of adulthood
in China.
Li Mengnan randomly attacked
medical staff with a fruit knife March 23 after accusing a doctor of refusing
to provide treatment for a chronic spinal condition. He killed the intern, Wang
Hao, and injured three others before trying to kill himself.
Security officials detained Li in
the hospital emergency room, where he was seeking treatment for injuries he
suffered in the attack.
Li told state broadcaster CCTV
after he was detained that he had become frustrated with the hospital.
"My grandpa and I have been
travelling to the hospitals many times with a lot of money spent and efforts
paid, but I felt the doctors were just deliberately making things
difficult," Li said.
Days after the attack, Health
Minister Chen Zhu _ whose department has come under pressure from the medical
community to offer more protection for health workers _ called on prosecutors
to severely punish Li.
Li had been represented by a
well-known rights lawyer, Li Fangping, who argued in his defense that Li was
driven to violence by an earlier misdiagnosis that worsened his condition. Li
Chunming said he was not sure if Li would appeal the sentencing, which included
an order that Li's family pay 680,000 yuan ($110,000) in compensation to the
victim's family.
Hospitals frequently become sites
for protests by family members of patients who have died while undergoing
treatment, often regardless of whether malpractice occurred. Angry relatives
set up mourning halls inside hospital waiting areas, burn funeral money and
hang banners and wreaths, demanding that the hospitals assume responsibility
for the death and provide monetary compensation.
AP
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