Frequent attacks on health workers in China: social changes or historical origins?

摘要

According to a message posted by the official Weibo account of Chengguan Sub-bureau of the Lanzhou Public Security Bureau in Gansu Province of China, on the morning of October 22, 2019, a suspect named Yang (male, aged 54 years, a native of Lanzhou City of Gansu Province) attacked a doctor Feng (female, aged 42 years, a native of Lanzhou City) with a knife at Gansu Provincial Hospital. Unfortunately, despite all efforts to rescue her, Feng passed away. After the incident, Public Security Institutions immediately took control of suspect Yang. According to the preliminary investigation, Yang once underwent a surgery for rectal cancer at Gansu Provincial Hospital, in which Doctor Feng was his attending physician. The case is currently under further investigation. History book entitled Shi Ji (the Grand Historian) combines the biographies of famous doctors Bian Que and Chunyu Yi into the Bian Que Cang Gong Lie Zhuan (Biography of Bian Que and Cang Gong). According to the record of Shi Ji, as early as in the Zhou Dynasty (1046-256 B.C.E.) of China, Bian Que (407-310 B.C.E.) died from murder. When the chief physician of Qin State Li Xi—learned that his medical skills were not as good as Bian Que’s, he sent an assassin to kill him.