Chinese nurse sacked over grisly celebrity abortion comments
Hospital flooded with complaints after employee makes remarks online
A hospital in southwestern China has fired a nurse for posting “improper” comments online about a celebrity abortion scandal, according to a Shanghai-based news site.
The hospital in Zunyi, Guizhou province, sacked Cai Lianxia and fined her 5,000 yuan (US$760) after she took sides in a public spat between Chinese singer Joker Xue Zhiqian and model Li Luyi, known as Li Yutong, Thepaper.cn reported.
Li had claimed Xue forced her to have a late-term abortion.
Taking Xue’s side, Cai wrote on her Weibo microblog: “It’s a pity that Ms Li’s child did not die in my hands.”
The comments set off an online backlash, prompting Cai to apologise on her microblog the next day.
“I posted inappropriate remarks about the incident between Xue Zhiqian and Ms Li, causing harm to society and Ms Li,” Cai said. “I apologise to online users and Ms Li. I’m sorry.”
She also posted a photo of a hospital document describing her remarks as “antithetical to the spirit of saving people”.
The hospital said it was flooded with complaints from across the country, disrupting normal operations.
Cai has since cleared her Weibo account of all posts, except for a user bio with a lyric from Xue’s song Animal World: “Survival of the fittest/licking our own wounds.”