A 68-year-old man in China lost vision in one eye and suffered blurred sight in the other after a fellow patient gouged his eyes at a psychiatric hospital in Hubei province, reported Malaysian news outlet Kwong Wah.
Mr Wang (name transliterated from Chinese), the son of the victim, told The Beijing News on Thursday (5 June) that the incident occurred in September 2024 while his father — who has dementia — was undergoing treatment at the facility.
According to him, the attack took place during a noon rest period.
Source: HK01
In CCTV footage of the incident, his father was seen lying face up on the bed with both hands restrained.
Meanwhile, the other patient in the same room was only restrained by one hand.
The latter was reportedly able to roll over and attack Mr Wang’s father, gouging out his right eyeball.
His father has since undergone three surgeries, but now has severely impaired vision.
He is now completely blind in one eye, and has blurred vision in the other.
A person familiar with the situation claimed that a caregiver initially intervened but later left the room.
Both patients were deemed legally incapacitated, and the hospital is said to bear primary responsibility for the incident.
Source: HK01
The psychiatric hospital in Huangshi told reporters that the family had been advised to pursue legal action to seek compensation.
According to a report by Litchi News, the hospital transferred the injured man to a hospital in Wuhan for emergency treatment and covered most of the medical expenses.
Following eye surgery, he returned to the psychiatric facility for further care for over ten days.
Mr Wang is now seeking compensation through the courts.
“If both of that person’s hands had been tied, it would’ve been impossible for him to roll over and attack my father’s eyes. This was entirely a failure in hospital management,” he said.
However, because Mr Wang’s father suffers from Alzheimer’s disease, there are challenges in obtaining a legal medical assessment for the case.
Dr Zhou (name transliterated from Chinese), a doctor at Huangshi Psychiatric Hospital, confirmed the patient was sent to Wuhan for treatment and said that the entire department had been penalised following the incident, with several thousand yuan deducted from staff salaries.
Also read: Helper jailed 1 year for assaulting 90-year-old dementia patient, says she was ‘very stressed’
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Featured image adapted from HK01.