Chinese professor kicks, punches hospital staff over pregnant wife’s treatment
University disciplines academic after latest case of violence against hospital staff
A Chinese university professor has been accused of verbally insulting a nurse and then attacking a laboratory chief who tried to intervene, according to media reports.
The 48-year-old academic, surnamed An, became enraged after the nurse had repeatedly failed to draw a blood sample from his pregnant wife, Beijing Youth Daily reported on Wednesday.
When the head of the clinical laboratory at Northwest Women’s and Children’s Hospital in Xian, the capital of the northwestern province of Shaanxi, tried to calm the man, he was repeatedly kicked and punched and left with mild concussion and cuts.
CCTV footage of the alleged incident on Tuesday was posted on the NetEase website and has since been widely circulated online.
The hospital said it had filed a police report over the incident.
An’s employer, Xidian University, issued a statement via its Weibo channel saying that it had “severely disciplined” the academic, adding that he was reflecting on his “mistake”.
The statement added that the university “sincerely apologises” for the academic’s actions which had “caused negative impacts on society”.