SHANGHAI—A Chinese court sentenced a teenager to life in prison Friday for killing a medical worker and stabbing three others in one of a spate of violent hospital attacks.
The ruling comes against a backdrop of concern in China over violence against medical personnel, which recently has grabbed the attention local media. According to state-owned China Daily newspaper, more than 17,000 violent incidents against doctors in more than 70% of hospitals were reported in China in 2010.
The Intermediate People’s Court of Harbin, the capital of China’s northeastern Heilongjiang province, found 18-year-old Li Mengnan guilty of intentional homicide, according to China’s state-run Xinhua news agency. Mr. Li was ordered to pay victims’ families 680,000 yuan ($108,750) in compensation, according to Xinhua.
In March, Mr. Li attacked medical workers with a fruit knife he purchased at a store near the hospital after a dispute over treatment for a spinal condition, according to a separate report from Xinhua. Wang Hao, a 28-year-old intern, died as a result of the stabbing, while the three others survived with injuries, Xinhua said.
The case has been widely covered in China’s state-run media. According to a survey of nearly 6,000 physicians in 3,300 hospitals by consulting firm McKinsey & Co., 59% of doctors in China claim to have been verbally assaulted by a patient or a patient’s family member; 6% say they have been physically assaulted by patients.
Last year, a cancer patient in Beijing was arrested for attacking his doctor, also with a knife, after the surgeon said she was unable to remove a tumor, according to local media.
