Yang Min, a family member of a victim of the Wuhan New Crown virus, filed a lawsuit against the Wuhan Municipal People’s Government, the Hubei Provincial People’s Government, and Peking Union Medical College of Huazhong University of Science and Technology for concealing information about the epidemic, and demanded that the three defendants pay compensation of nearly 2 million RMB, according to a September 23 release from Minsheng Watch, a Chinese civil rights organization.
Yang Min said in the lawsuit that her daughter went to the hospital for surgery on January 16, when she did not know about the human-to-human epidemic, and Wuhan Baiyuting also held a banquet for 40,000 people on January 19, so neither she nor I had any epidemic prevention measures.
Yang Min’s daughter, Tian Yuxi, was treated with chemotherapy at Peking Union Medical College of Huazhong University of Science and Technology, and began to show fever on the night of January 19, and her fever remained high for several days. However, doctors at the hospital did not dare to issue a diagnosis involving a new coronavirus infection, and did not provide targeted treatment. The plaintiff’s daughter’s condition worsened and she was transferred to the Red Cross Hospital and Wuhan JinYinTan Hospital.
As a result of the authorities’ concealment of information about the new coronavirus outbreak, the number of new coronavirus patients increased dramatically, and when the Plaintiff’s daughter was transferred to the Wuhan Golden Beach Hospital, there was a severe shortage of medical personnel throughout Wuhan. The plaintiff’s daughter was bedridden, even drinking water was difficult, no medical personnel timely care and treatment, completely lying in filth, the condition also worsened, coughing up blood, blood oxygen concentration dropped rapidly and other serious symptoms. Until February 1, the plaintiff’s daughter’s nucleic acid test results showed positive, and Yang Min herself began to show symptoms of neo-coronavirus infection with a high fever that would not subside, and was subsequently quarantined and treated. However, Yang Min’s daughter died on February 6 at the age of 24 after she was taken to the ICU.
The lawsuit asks the court to confirm that the Wuhan Municipal People’s Government and the Hubei Provincial People’s Government and its subordinate department, the Health and Wellness Commission, acted unlawfully in concealing information about the epidemic from the public; asks the court to order the defendant to bear death compensation and funeral expenses totaling 181,020 yuan, 100,000 yuan in emotional damages, and 5,000 yuan in nutritional, nursing, and transportation expenses. The court ordered the Wuhan Municipal People’s Government and the Hubei Provincial People’s Government and its subordinate department, the Health and Wellness Commission, to apologize to the plaintiff for withholding information about the epidemic; and to investigate the abuse of power and dereliction of duty by state officials affiliated with the defendant.
According to Yang Zhanqing, a partner of the “Xinguan Pneumonia Claims Advisory Group” and founder of Changsha Fu Neng, a public-interest organization mainly involved in coordinating lawyers and consulting with victims, there have been five lawsuits filed by victims’ families in Hubei Province, and a total of six lawsuits involving Xinguan Pneumonia. The pneumonia epidemic has been the subject of a lawsuit to recover damages. To date, neither the Wuhan Intermediate Court nor the Hubei Provincial High Court has filed a case, and these courts have not handled the case in accordance with legal procedures, but have verbally notified the families that the case is inadmissible, without issuing a ruling that the case is inadmissible, and without informing the families of the reasons for inadmissibility.
Yang Zhanqing urged the local court to handle the case in accordance with the law, or urged the government to set up a “Xin Guan Epidemic Claims Working Group” to address the claims of the victims’ families.
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