Faking illness
Prisoners fake illness for different reasons - some to avoid work details and some aiming for a medical parole. Another patient was tested after doctors found blood in his urine. But he had no symptoms that would have resulted in this and further checks revealed that the man had worked out a way of biting his lip and dripping blood into his urine sample without the staff seeing this.
The doctors are well-acquainted with more common tricks - like the prisoners who bite their tongues and claim they are coughing up blood from their lungs. Or the prisoners who swallow knives, needle, rings, jewelry or zips from clothing to produce symptoms or just to try for time in the hospital.
More so than ordinary hospitals here the staff rigorously check every piece of equipment used. One missing thermometer means all the cells will be searched from top to bottom.
Zhu Rong is the head surgical nurse and she explained that many of the prisoners actually believed they were ill and deserved lighter sentences or freedom. "Some will swallow anything at hand to create symptoms. The doctors and nurses here have to keep their wits about them all the time - this is very different from any other type of hospital."
Seasonal migration of Chinese left-behind children
Feedback
RSS
