A doctor in southern China paid 30,000 yuan (US$4,200) out of his own pocket to cover the medical bills of a patient who refused to undergo emergency surgery because of the cost.
Advertisement
The incident unfolded in Dongguan, Guangdong province on June 30, when a migrant factory worker, surnamed Zhang, felt a searing pain in his chest and back while he was working, the Guangzhou Daily reported.
After Zhang, 38, arrived at a hospital in Xiegang Town, Dongguan City, doctors diagnosed a serious cardiovascular disorder.
A doctor from the cardiovascular department, Lu Jiongbin, told Zhang that he needed immediate surgery and that there was a 60 per cent possibility that he would die otherwise.
But Zhang refused to have the operation or to be hospitalised, saying he just wanted to go home to his village in Shaanxi province, northwestern China.
“I do not want to receive any treatment. If I die, it is fine,” he told medical staff.