China eye doctor punches patient, 82, in head mid-surgery to stop her moving, angers public, t

An eye doctor in China has been suspended from his job and placed under investigation after a viral social media post revealed that he had punched an 82-year-old woman patient in the head in the middle of an operation.

A branch institute of the franchised AIER Eye Hospital in Guigang in the southwestern Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region said in a December 20 statement that its president, surnamed Feng, had been suspended.

He is being investigated for medical malpractice over an incident which took place in 2019, according to a report in Red Star News. At the time, his elderly patient, surnamed Qin, was undergoing treatment for a cataract in her left eye.

The hospital said that after being given a local anaesthetic, the woman felt uncomfortable and began moving and touching her face.

Feng said he told the patient not to move multiple times, but she did not respond because she did not understand Mandarin.

To avoid the possible negative consequences of her movements, the doctor punched the patient’s head several times, said the hospital statement, adding that the medic neither intended to, nor in fact did, cause harm to the patient.

A video clip of the surgery shows two of Feng’s colleagues appearing to help restrain the elderly woman.

The patient’s son, surnamed Su, said he complained to the hospital about the doctor’s actions and received just 500 yuan (US$70) in compensation.

A furore erupted over the four-year-old incident when it went viral in mid-December following the exposure of details online after Su contacted Ai Fen, a Wuhan-based doctor who has been lauded as a hero in the fight against Covid-19 and has two million fans on Weibo.

Ai had also been embroiled in a legal battle with AIER Eye Hospital, which she accused of negligence over eye surgery she had undergone. She lost the lawsuit and was counter-sued by the hospital for defamation.

After the incident flared up again earlier this month, the Guangxi hospital admitted that doctors should not deal with patients rudely under any circumstances and Feng’s action had violated the code of conduct for medical staff.

Medical bosses have also dismissed the hospital’s chief executive officer for failing to report the case to upper-level executives.

The local health authority said an investigation was underway, the results of which would be made public soon.

In a previous case of inappropriate medical behaviour, a gynaecologist in eastern Jiangsu province was suspended in February after he shared a photo on social media about his work which showed the genitals of a patient.

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