Medical group to monitor probe of surgeon's death

A national medical association said on Wednesday that it will closely monitor the investigation of a fatal knife attack in which a female surgeon was killed at a hospital in Lanzhou, Gansu province.

The attack has renewed concerns about tense doctor-patient relationships.

The Chinese Medical Doctor Association said it wishes to bring the attacker to justice through judicial means and will continue to speak up in cases of injustice, according to Deng Liqiang, director of the nonprofit's department of legal affairs.

"We have responded to similar cases in the past in hopes of raising public awareness (of threats facing doctors), and we have seen concrete progress on that front over the last few years," he said.

The response came a day after a doctor surnamed Feng, a proctology surgeon at Gansu Provincial Hospital, was killed on Tuesday morning, allegedly by a former patient surnamed Yang.

What prompted the attack was not immediately clear, but Yang, 54, was found to have had surgery at the hospital, with as Feng the surgeon in charge, according to a police statement posted on Sina Weibo on Tuesday afternoon.

Yang was detained on Tuesday by police. Feng, 42, died on Tuesday despite rescue efforts, police said.

The attack occurred just a few days after the victim came back from a county hospital in an exchange program aimed at boosting the clinical capacity of smaller institutions in impoverished regions, according to screenshots of the victim's social media account.

"Poverty relief task accomplished, back to my familiar office with old colleagues around. I will continue to work hard," she wrote in an Oct 17 post on WeChat.

An unnamed colleague described Feng as a gentle and patient doctor with a soft voice, and said she was skilled and had multiple scholarly titles, according to Beijing News.

A local health official told news outlet thePaper.cn that the case was heartbreaking.

The official said it was a tragedy for two families and urged doctors and patients to improve communication and resolve any differences in a rational manner rather than resorting to violence.

Wang Xiaodong contributed to this story.