Announcement

**Gert van der Hoek** · July 1, 2009, 03:40 PM

Re: China A/H1N1 flu patient dies "accidentally"; reasons unclear

Recovering swine flu patient dies

Source: Xinhua | 2009-7-2 |

A SWINE flu patient died yesterday in east China's Zhejiang Province but the cause of her death was not yet known, local health authorities said late yesterday.

The 34-year-old woman was found dead at 7:35am in her ward lavatory at the No.1 People's Hospital of Xiaoshan District in Hangzhou, the provincial capital, according to the Hangzhou municipal health bureau.

The patient was recovering as her temperature had been normal for a week. She coughed occasionally, but other flu symptoms had disappeared. She was admitted to the hospital on June 23.

If she is found to have died from the disease, it would be China's first death from it.

Liang Wannian, vice director of the Health Ministry's emergency office, warned on Monday that China is "very likely" to have its first death from the H1N1 flu in the foreseeable future, as the number of the flu cases rises.

"The possibility of a wide spread of the virus in China in autumn and winter is also becoming more likely," the official said.

The Chinese mainland confirmed 57 new H1N1 cases yesterday, with the total number hitting 867.

http://www.shanghaidaily.com/article/?id=406118&type=National

**Shiloh** · July 2, 2009, 08:00 AM

Re: China A/H1N1 flu patient dies "accidentally"; reasons unclear

Will we be seeing more of this kind of reponse???

Source: http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/20...t_11641660.htm

Relatives of dead A/H1N1 flu patient smash hospital
www.chinaview.cn 2009-07-02 20:28:30

HANGZHOU, July 2 (Xinhua) -- Angry relatives of an A/H1N1 flu patient who died "accidentally" Wednesday in east China's Zhejiang Province stormed the hospital where she died as they suspected electric shock caused her death.

More than 20 of the patient's relatives rushed into the No. 1 People's Hospital of Xiaoshan District, Hangzhou city, where the patient had been staying, and smashed the hall next to the gate and an ambulance with rocks. Glasses from the hall and flower terrace in front of the hospital were destroyed and the ambulance damaged.

The 34-year-old woman was found dead at 7:35 a.m. Wednesday in her ward lavatory at the No. 1 People's Hospital of Xiaoshan District in Hangzhou, the provincial capital, according to the Hangzhou municipal health bureau.

Local police and health authorities are still investigating the cause.

The patient was recovering as her temperature had been normal for a week. She coughed occasionally, but other flu symptoms had disappeared.

She was admitted to the hospital on June 23.

**alert** · July 2, 2009, 10:46 AM

Re: China A/H1N1 flu patient dies "accidentally"; reasons unclear

I called this. We won't see too many of these deaths, but there will be a few. And electric shock might be an accident. If 30% of the population will get this virus in upcoming months, some of them will happen to die while infected, where the cause of death has nothing to do with disease.

And I don't feel these deaths should be counted in the pandemic toll, although significant digits tell me that count won't matter.

**alert** · July 3, 2009, 10:45 AM

Re: China A/H1N1 flu patient dies "accidentally"; reasons unclear

Yep. I thought so. An accidental electrocution. This death doesn't count. The thread could now be titled "H1N1 Patient Dies of Electrocution".

http://blogs.wsj.com/chinajournal/2009/07/03/h1n1-patients-accidental-death-sparks-protest/

H1N1 Patient’s Accidental Death Sparks Protest
.Article Comments China Journal HOME PAGE ».EmailPrinter FriendlyPermalinkShare:

Yahoo! Buzz facebookMySpaceLinkedInDiggdel.icio.usNewsVineStum bleUponMixx Text Size
A 34-year-old woman in the eastern China city of Hangzhou survived the H1N1 flu virus, but she didn’t survive her hospital stay. And her plight has inspired the latest in a string of public protests against China’s medical establishment.

Associated Press

Hospital protests, such as this one in Loudi, Hunan province, in 2007, are not unusual in China
In a sad irony, the woman, who had been admitted to Hangzhou’s No. 1 People’s Hospital for treatment on June 23, was found dead in the bathroom of her hospital ward on Wednesday. Officials denied that H1N1 was the cause of her death (which would have made her the first such flu fatality in China), and today Hangzhou authorities attributed the cause to accidental electrocution.

“The patient died of electrocution caused by leakage of electricity from electrical circuits in her ward lavatory, when she was taking a shower,” said a statement released by the Hangzhou public security, health and quality supervision departments, as reported by Xinhua.

The official report on the cause of death came after violent protests on Wednesday and Thursday by angry relatives of the patient. According to Xinhua, more than 50 people rampaged at the hospital, hurling rocks at ambulances, smashing windows and damaging interiors. According to an earlier report from Xinhua, the angry relatives already suspected that electrocution had been the cause of death.

It may sound extreme, but these types of hospital protests have become increasingly common in China, where a lack of trust in doctors can lead people to assume the worst when a loved one passes away. Over the last three decades, China largely dismantled its socialized health-care system as part of the country’s broader shift to a market economy (something it is now trying to reverse). Patients have been forced to pay more of their own costs at the same time as hospitals have been pressed into generating their own income to cover costs. This has encouraged hospitals to emphasize drug sales and expensive tests, and they will often demand upfront payment before treatment, even in emergencies. The field of medical malpractice law in China is not as developed as in the U.S., which may further encourage people to try and take matters into their own hands.

Doctors are running scared. Earlier this week, a doctor in eastern China jumped from a fifth-story window (he survived) to escape angry relatives of a baby girl who had died. According to the China Youth Daily, the doctor, surnamed Li, had first attempted to persuade the girl’s father to seek legal recourse, to which the father replied, “How about after I kill you, you too go through legal channels for resolution!”

In some cases, physicians are fighting back. Last week, doctors in Nanping city in the eastern province of Fujian staged a protest and sit-in strike to oppose their hospital’s decision to compensate the family of a deceased patient. The hospital had agreed to pay 210,000 yuan ($31,000) after relatives held a protest in which they scuffled with doctors and nurses, leaving five hospital staffers with injuries. (English report here, Chinese here).

–Sky Canaves and Juliet Ye