Police detain protestor at hospital

A man who burned joss paper, or "spirit money," in a hospital was detained by police in South China for five days, in the latest effort to protect medical workers amid tensions between patients and doctors.

The 26-year-old man, who wanted to be identified only by his surname Chen, claimed that he burned the offerings to "demand an explanation" from the hospital for his sister's death. He was released on Wednesday.

The man came to Shenzhen Songgang People's Hospital in Bao'an district of Shenzhen, Guangdong Province, on May 1, the day the hospital failed to save the life of Chen Qiongjiang, his 29-year-old sister.

Chen Qiongjiang, from Pingxiang, East China's Jiangxi Province, lived in Shenzhen. She went to the hospital with a fever on April 28.

"The first time she went to the hospital, she was put on an intravenous drip, but the fever didn't break. So the next day she went there again, and was diagnosed with nephritis (kidney disease)," said Feng Yong, Chen's husband. "On May 1, she woke me up at about 4 a.m., telling me that her throat didn't feel well, and then she took the medicine prescribed by the hospital."

Chen Qiongjiang began to have convulsions at about 5:30 a.m., Feng said. "I took her to the hospital so they could save her. The hospital announced her death at about 8 a.m."

Later that day, Chen's brother and other relatives went to the hospital to protest.

"More than 10 people came to the hospital on May 1, and burned offerings there at about 6:30 p.m.," said Xie Jin, an officer in the police station of Bao'an district. Burning offerings is a ritual to mourn the dead, but doing so in a public place is often deemed insulting and causes chaos.

"The hospital called the police, and local officers went there and persuaded them to leave the hospital and come back the next day at 9 a.m. for negotiation," Xie said.

"But the next day, they blocked the front door of the hospital by sitting in front of it, and the hospital called the police who detained the head of the group (Chen's brother) for five days."

However, Chen's brother denied that he led the group. "All of them are our relatives. They are my cousins and my uncles. They came voluntarily."

As for burning offerings to his deceased sister, he said the group went to the hospital the morning she died and tried to talk to its leadership but failed.

"We waited until 6 p.m. (and began burning offerings). It's a tradition that we burn offerings to deceased relatives," he said. "The next day we went back, but no one came to talk to us. We didn't sit by the door for long before the police took us away."

When asked why he chose to go to the hospital, instead of turning to a lawyer for help, he said: "All we knew is that my sister died after being treated by the hospital, and we needed an explanation."

"They sat in front of our main gate, and people had to go through the side doors to enter the hospital," said a staff worker in the administration office of the hospital, who declined to be named. "We tried to persuade them to seek legal solutions after the results of the autopsy came out, but they refused and demanded compensation."

The police took Chen's brother and the other protesters away for investigation on May 2, and the group and the hospital came to an agreement to wait for the results of the autopsy before taking further measures.

"The health bureau of Bao'an district initiated an examination on May 5. It was carried out by medical experts from Sun Yat-sen University," said the staff worker.

China has stepped up its efforts to stop people from disrupting the daily operation of hospitals following a series of violent attacks on medical workers in recent months.

On March 23, an 18-year-old man stabbed a doctor to death and wounded three others in a hospital in Harbin, capital city of Heilongjiang Province.

On May 1, the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Public Security said in a statement that behavior such as burning offerings to deceased people at hospitals is punishable by police, according to the law.