Hospital attacker gets life in jail
Source: Agencies/Shanghai Daily |
October 20, 2012, Saturday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
A MAN who killed a doctor and injured three others at a hospital in Harbin, Heilongjiang Province, was sentenced to life in prison yesterday.
Li Mengnan, 18, was found guilty of murdering Wang Hao, a 28-year-old intern, injuring the other three. He was also ordered to pay more than 680,000 yuan (US$108,743) as compensation to the families of victims.
Li escaped death penalty as he was below 18 years of age when he committed the crime. A life sentence was the highest penalty he could receive, his lawyer, Wei Liangyue, said. Wei told reporters that Li would appeal.
"From a legal perspective, the court's decision was fair. But in my heart, it is still unfair," Wang Dongqing, father of the intern, told The Associated Press. "My son was taken from me. Even if they had sentenced him to death, it would have been unfair."
Li broke into the office of the rheumatism immunity department of the No. 1 Hospital affiliated to Harbin Medical University on March 23.
The court said in the ruling that Li held a grudge about his medical treatment at the hospital and carried out the attack in revenge.
Li had received medical treatment at the hospital for five years but did not recover completely. The hospital would not administer the drug infliximab for treating ankylosing spondylitis as it could harm or even kill a tuberculosis carrier.
Zhao Yanping, Li's doctor and deputy chief of the department, said Li's tuberculosis needed to be treated first as the drug would have had side-effects on his lungs.
Li, however, felt that doctors were refusing him treatment because he was poor. He bought a fruit knife from a nearby store and returned to the hospital.
He first slashed the neck of Wang Hao and then attacked two other doctors and another intern. After the attack Li left the scene but returned to the hospital to receive treatment for injuries he sustained during the attack, only to be arrested by police.
The court did not accept that Li surrendered himself after the attack when he returned with his grandfather to the hospital for treatment.
Li told China Central Television after he was detained that he had become frustrated with the hospital.
"My grandfather and I made several trips to the hospitals and spent a lot of money, but I felt the doctors were deliberately making things difficult," Li told CCTV.
Despite public sympathy for Li, members of the medical community demanded 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.
Days after the attack, Health Minister Chen Zhu, whose department has come under pressure from the medical community demanding more protection for health workers, called on prosecutors to severely punish Li.
Despite the injection of more than US$240 billion in extra funds into the health care sector, the doctor-patient relationship has not seen much improvement. Hospitals often become sites for protests by family members of patients who have died while undergoing treatment. Angry relatives set up mourning halls inside hospital waiting areas, demanding the hospitals assume responsibility for the death.
Li Mengnan, 18, was found guilty of murdering Wang Hao, a 28-year-old intern, injuring the other three. He was also ordered to pay more than 680,000 yuan (US$108,743) as compensation to the families of victims.
Li escaped death penalty as he was below 18 years of age when he committed the crime. A life sentence was the highest penalty he could receive, his lawyer, Wei Liangyue, said. Wei told reporters that Li would appeal.
"From a legal perspective, the court's decision was fair. But in my heart, it is still unfair," Wang Dongqing, father of the intern, told The Associated Press. "My son was taken from me. Even if they had sentenced him to death, it would have been unfair."
Li broke into the office of the rheumatism immunity department of the No. 1 Hospital affiliated to Harbin Medical University on March 23.
The court said in the ruling that Li held a grudge about his medical treatment at the hospital and carried out the attack in revenge.
Li had received medical treatment at the hospital for five years but did not recover completely. The hospital would not administer the drug infliximab for treating ankylosing spondylitis as it could harm or even kill a tuberculosis carrier.
Zhao Yanping, Li's doctor and deputy chief of the department, said Li's tuberculosis needed to be treated first as the drug would have had side-effects on his lungs.
Li, however, felt that doctors were refusing him treatment because he was poor. He bought a fruit knife from a nearby store and returned to the hospital.
He first slashed the neck of Wang Hao and then attacked two other doctors and another intern. After the attack Li left the scene but returned to the hospital to receive treatment for injuries he sustained during the attack, only to be arrested by police.
The court did not accept that Li surrendered himself after the attack when he returned with his grandfather to the hospital for treatment.
Li told China Central Television after he was detained that he had become frustrated with the hospital.
"My grandfather and I made several trips to the hospitals and spent a lot of money, but I felt the doctors were deliberately making things difficult," Li told CCTV.
Despite public sympathy for Li, members of the medical community demanded 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.
Days after the attack, Health Minister Chen Zhu, whose department has come under pressure from the medical community demanding more protection for health workers, called on prosecutors to severely punish Li.
Despite the injection of more than US$240 billion in extra funds into the health care sector, the doctor-patient relationship has not seen much improvement. Hospitals often become sites for protests by family members of patients who have died while undergoing treatment. Angry relatives set up mourning halls inside hospital waiting areas, demanding the hospitals assume responsibility for the death.
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