Teachers punished

SEVEN teachers and officials at a vocational school in Shandong Province have been sacked or suspended for the death of a female student.

Six male teachers at Qingdao Qiushi Vocational School invited Liu Xiao’ao, 19, and four other students to a drinking party Oct. 27. The group consumed 48 bottles of beer. Liu became drunk and accidentally fell out of a bathroom window in the fourth-floor restaurant, Qingdao police said. Police have ruled out homicide.

Man suing hospital

A LUNG cancer patient in Tianjin is planning to take a hospital to court for refusing to perform surgery on him because he’s also an HIV carrier, Chinese-language media reported Wednesday. The unidentified patient was said to have illegally forged new health records so he could be operated on in another hospital. That operation went well and the patient is planning to sue the first hospital for discrimination.

Transplant success

WAN JINQIANG and his 2-year-old son, Wan Kefan, were stable and recovering at a military hospital in Beijing on Wednesday after going through the nation’s first liver transplant between a father and son with different blood types. The boy was diagnosed with biliary atresia in June and doctors said only a transplant could save his life. The father persuaded the hospital to do the surgery, in hopes of a “surprise success.”

Whistleblower killed

A LEADING whistleblower about problems in the country’s dairy industry was killed earlier this month. Jiang Weisuo’s funeral was held Thursday in his native Shaanxi Province. Jiang was assaulted Nov. 2, fell into a coma and died Nov. 12. He was known for exposing irregularities in the dairy industry and was the whistleblower in a melamine scandal in which several toddlers died after drinking melamine-tainted formula that sickened thousands of others nationwide.

Hospital sued

A WOMAN is suing a mental health hospital in Beijing for keeping her in involuntary custody for three days in June at the request of her parents. Chen Dan is demanding 200,000 yuan (US$32,090) in compensation. She said her angry parents showed up in Beijing in June to force her to break up with her boyfriend. After she refused, Chen was taken to Beijing Huilongguan Hospital on June 5 by four people hired by her parents.