2,000 in hospital brawl after woman dies

Nearly 2,000 people were involved in a brawl yesterday after a woman died hours after getting an intravenous drip at a hospital in south China's Dongguan City in Guangdong Province.

Nearly 2,000 people were involved in a brawl yesterday after a woman died hours after getting an intravenous drip at a hospital in south China's Dongguan City in Guangdong Province.[Photo/Weibo.com]

A Hubei native surnamed Tian, 23, died on Thursday morning about 11 hours after she was given a drip in Humen Town Taiping Hospital. She had a high fever and sore throat, Nanfang Daily reported.

A number of Tian's relatives marched to the hospital in the afternoon, crying and shouting abuse at doctors.

The situation soon erupted into an all-out brawl involving around 2,000 people.

They smashed the windows of the outpatient clinic and damaged the iron gate, the newspaper said.

Police had restored order by 12:20am yesterday.

No injuries or arrests have been disclosed.

Ye Kongxin, head of Humen Town, said the cause of Tian's death was being investigated.

The hospital said Tian first came to the hospital on Wednesday with a high fever and sore throat, but doctors and nurses didn't find anything else abnormal when she was treated.

She felt better and returned home at around 9:30pm the same day, the hospital said.

However, she felt pain and tightening in her chest about 5am on Thursday.

By the time an ambulance arrived some 11 minutes later she had stopped breathing.

She was pronounced dead at 6:40am after emergency treatment failed, the report said, citing the local government.

Tension between doctors and patients has been brewing for years in China.

Many patients are unhappy about high medical fees and poor access to treatment while doctors often worked long hours for little pay.

A recent poll showed barely 6 percent of health personnel said doctor-patient relationships were "harmonious" while 78 percent complained of above-average levels of stress.

The survey also found that 74 percent of respondents said they did not receive due respect or trust from the public, according to Xinhua news agency.

In April, a doctor was stabbed by a patient at Peking University People's Hospital, allegedly because the doctor had failed to treat the patient properly.

And in September 2011, a patient stabbed a surgeon at Beijing Tongren Hospital following a dispute over treatment.