In a terrible incident, an elderly woman in China visited an ophthalmic hospital for eye surgery. For that, the doctor administered her local anesthesia. The 82-year-old patient was unable to understand it. She started speaking in a local dialect and couldn't understand the doctor's warnings during the surgery. The surgeon, in response, hit her head at least three times.
The shocking incident happened in 2019 at an ophthalmic hospital run by Aier China. This incident took place in the southern Chinese city of Guigang. The entire incident was recorded on a CCTV camera, and the clip was shared on the Chinese social media platform, Weibo, by Dr. Ai Fen. He was one of a group of doctors who alerted the public to the initial Wuhan COVID outbreak.
The hospital said in a statement to the BBC that the elder was administered anesthesia for the surgery, but she was intolerant of it. The patient kept moving her head and eyeballs during the operation. As the patient spoke in the local dialect, she couldn't understand the doctor's warnings in Mandarin. The doctor treated the patient harshly in an emergency.
"During the operation, due to local anesthesia, the patient had surgical intolerance and reached up to try to touch [her] eyes. The area near the eyes is a sterile surgical area. "Once touched, it may cause infection. The doctor wants to avoid danger," read a statement translated by Google. The local authorities say that the elderly patient sustained bruises on her forehead, as the New York Post reported.
Following sparkling outrage online over the doctor's inhumane behavior toward an elderly patient, Aier China, the parent group of the hospital, not only suspended the surgeon but also removed the CEO of the hospital this week.
The hospital apologized to the elderly lady and gave her a compensation of 500 yuan, or ₹ 5,800. But the patient’s son claimed that she is blind in the left eye, but there are no medical reports that suggest it was caused by the incident.
(Inputs from various sources)
(Rehash/Komal Bhoi)
