- The 38-year-old suffered a type of stroke and was dropped off by his mistress
A spurned woman in China turned off her husband’s life support after he suffered a severe brain bleed at his mistress’s home and ended up in hospital.
The 38-year-old man had been living with his mistress while still technically married, having left his wife some ten years prior.
But after suffering a stroke at his lover’s home and being taken to hospital, he was admitted to the ICU and fell into a coma.
Doctors desperately reached out to his wife to get her permission to start surgery. When she arrived, she was told he stood a low chance of survival.
The woman allegedly said her husband had been unfaithful and provided her no support, before refusing to sign the consent form and asking doctors to remove his tracheal tube and give up on trying to save him.
File. A man fell into a coma after suffering a cerebral haemorrhage at his lover’s home
Doctors had initially sought consent from the man’s mistress, but she had already left the hospital, NetEase News reports.
Soon after, the man’s wife arrived.
Doctors told her that the equipment available would only be able to sustain him for a short time without surgery.
The cost of surgery would also be very high, she was told, according to the South China Morning Post.
The woman reportedly told doctors she had known about his ‘infidelity’ for more than ten years, and said he had no feelings for her.
She said she also had not loved him for some time.
It is unclear whether anybody else was consulted in her decision to ask doctors to turn off his life support.
Cerebral haemorrhaging is a type of stroke causing bleeding inside the brain tissue.
It happens when a weakened blood vessel in the brain starts to leak or suddenly bursts.
The brain struggles to get all the oxygen and nutrients it needs, causing severe damage.
These can happen to anybody, but are more likely if you have high blood pressure, use tobacco, take blood thinners or injure your head, among other things.
In minor cases, doctors may prescribe medication to ease symptoms and prevent the condition worsening.
But in severe cases, emergency surgery may be needed.
Chinese doctors are required by law to inform a patient’s family about any risks of surgery and obtain written consent before starting when the patient is not in a position to provide it themselves.
In some cases, the head of the hospital can authorise surgery where there is disagreement on how to proceed.
Deciding to turn off life support for another person remains a sensitive and controversial issue tied up in law around the world.
File. Doctors in China asked the woman for consent to carry out risky surgery
A 72-year-old woman was arrested in Germany in 2022 after allegedly switching off a hospital roommate’s ventilator twice because she was annoyed by the sound it made.
The woman was jailed on suspicion of attempted manslaughter after hospital staff allegedly saw her turning off the ventilator a second time, having been told earlier in the day that it was vital for the patient and had to be left on.
The 79-year-old patient had to be revived but survived in intensive care.
Ventilators blow oxygen into the lungs of patients enable to breathe without help.
It is unclear what the elderly woman was suffering from when her ventilator was disconnected.
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