China: Citizens, police fighting over corpses

(ChinaFile) On the morning of March 16, 48-year-old Huang Shunfang went to her local hospital located in Fanghu Township in the central Chinese province of Henan. Her doctor diagnosed her with gastritis, gave her a dose of antacids through an IV, and sent her on her way. Huang died suddenly that afternoon. In the hours after her death, Huang's family went to the hospital for an explanation and was told by the hospital leadership that "the hospital is where people die," according to a witness' account of the incident. Incensed, Huang's family visited the local public security bureau and the health bureau, both to no avail. Four days later, on March 20, after rejecting the hospital's offer of compensation of RMB 5,000 ($800), the family placed Huang's corpse outside the gate of the hospital in protest. Soon, over a hundred policemen swooped in to take the body away, beating and detaining Huang's relatives who tried to resist them.

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