Hospital to sue family for allegedly mob

A private maternity hospital in Guangzhou said it would file a lawsuit for damage to property and reputation allegedly inflicted by a mob summoned by a patient's family.

The family denied the hospital's accusation that they gathered at least 150 people to attack the hospital on Monday after the patient lost her fetus.

A surveillance video clip provided by the hospital shows a crowd of people gathered in front of the hospital's entrance throwing bricks to shatter the glass doors and windows of the building's ground hall. The floor of the hall was covered with fake money that was burned as an offering to the dead fetus.

Lin Huilian, assistant to the executive director of Guangzhou Elizabeth Women's Hospital, said in an interview with China Daily on Tuesday that it was a “premeditated, organized medical disturbance”.

According to Lin, a pregnant woman surnamed Peng went to the hospital on Nov 26 because of bleeding in her vagina. The doctor diagnosed that it was caused by insufficient amniotic fluid and put her on a drip.

“Before letting Peng go home, the doctor told her that she needed to come back to the hospital if she felt anything wrong with the fetus. However, Peng came to the hospital at about 8 am the next day and said that fetal heartbeats had been weakening since 1 am,” Lin said.

“It was too late, and the fetus had died in the womb.”

According to Lin, Peng's husband gathered 50 to 60 people in front of the hospital at about 10 am on Monday to mourn the baby's death.

Lin said the gathering disturbed the hospital's business by making noise with loudspeakers and scattering the fake paper money.

After lunch, Peng's husband gathered “at least 150” people, and they allegedly started throwing bricks.

Peng's family members, who were still sitting on the stairs in front of the hospital on Tuesday afternoon, denied Lin's accusation.

“We're still waiting for an explanation from the hospital about the cause of the fetus's death. We think the hospital should have hospitalized Peng when first came in for the bleeding,” said Huang Qiaozhen, Peng's sister-in-law, who was on the scene on Monday.

“There were less than 20 of us on Monday, and we were sitting silently in front of the hospital. I don't know who the rioting people are. They have nothing to do with us,” Huang said on Tuesday.

She claimed that a group of ferocious people came out from the hospital to hit them and tear up the sonogram photo of the dead fetus they were holding.

Lin from Guangzhou Elizabeth Women's Hospital said that Peng's family members consented to have the dead fetus sent to Sun Yat-sen University on Nov 29 to determine the cause of death and if the hospital was at fault.

“Both (the hospital and the family) have submitted the case for inspection and know that it requires at least 30 working days for the results,” Lin said.

The police of Liwan district, where the hospital is located, are investigating the case.