China nurse 'paralysed by beating' from official

6 March 2014 Last updated at 10:15

China nurse 'paralysed by beating' from official

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A Chinese official has been detained over an attack on a nurse in Jiangsu province which left the nurse paralysed, police and state media say.

Yuan Yaping is accused of beating Chen Xingyu at Nanjing Stomatological Hospital on 25 February, leaving the nurse with lower-limb paralysis.

Ms Yuan's husband, a Jiangsu propaganda official, has also been dismissed for his involvement in the attack.

The attack made headlines in China and sparked anger on social media.

Ms Yuan, deputy director of a government-run museum in Jiangsu, became angry after learning that a male patient was placed in the same hospital room as her daughter due to overcrowding, Chinese media said.

State-run news agency Xinhua reported that she began beating Ms Chen on the back with an umbrella and dragged the nurse out of her work station by the collar,

Ms Yuan's husband, Dong Anqing, pushed other medical workers to stop them from intervening, Xinhua added.

Injury cases

On Wednesday, Nanjing police said that Ms Yuan had been arrested.

"Given that Chen Xingyu has not recovered her functions after a week of medical care, we have decided to place suspect Yuan Yapin under criminal detention, in accordance with the public security bureau's regulations for injury cases," police said in a statement on their verified microblog.

The case prompted outrage in China, with the term "Nanjing nurse beaten" becoming the third-most-popular search term on Thursday.

Many online observers were angered by the fact it took police over a week to detain Ms Yuan, and speculated that the political influence of her family was a factor, the South China Morning Post reported.

There was also speculation that a video of the attack that was posted online was edited to leave out crucial footage, the SCMP added.

A Nanjing police spokesperson said on Wednesday that police needed time to determine the severity of Ms Chen's injuries before the arrest, and that the video posted online was complete and authentic.

Patients threatening violence is said to be a common occurrence in China.

Hospitals in China are suffering an average of one violent attack every two weeks, state media report.