Hospital head sacked over anesthesia-related deaths

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2008-10-17 07:05

SANMING, Fujian Province -- The president of a Chinese hospital and his deputy were sacked Thursday after four patients died after receiving anesthesia.

The head of the anesthesia department in the No. 2 Hospital of Sanming City in the southeastern Fujian Province was also fired, a spokesman of the Sanming municipal government said.

Discipline sanctions were also handed out to the city's health department head and his deputy, the spokesman said, without giving details.

An investigation by local and national health authorities suggested the deaths were related to the hospital's improper treatment of the patients.

Specific details were not released.

Families of the four victims received financial compensation ranging between 200,000 and 400,000 yuan (US$29,112 to US$58,224), a hospital spokesman said Thursday.

A three-year-old boy and two men aged 26 and 29 died during surgeries. A 44-year-old woman died 23 days after her operation. Those surgeries took place from September 3 to October 10.