Yu Ying is a 29-year-old woman from Liaoning. After five years studying in the U.K., Yu returned to China with a master’s degree in order to take a job in Beijing. In July 2015, Yu came to Shanghai to have a plastic surgery. She planned to have her jawbones shaved and her face reshaped. She never expected her life to take such an unlucky turn thanks to the surgery.

In the middle of July, Yu told friends and family that she was going to Shanghai to catch up with a friend. She told nobody the true reason for her trip. Starting from July 19, both Yu’s mother, Zhang Xiaomei, and Yu’s boyfriend lost contact with Yu. In the afternoon of July 21, her mother got a phone call from Shanghai No. 9 People’s Hospital, informing Zhang that her daughter was in critical condition and that the hospital required the signature of a guardian in order to continue treatment. Zhang flew to Shanghai that night, only to find her daughter in a coma, hooked up to a breathing machine.

Based on the doctor’s record, Yu had the surgery under general anesthesia. The operation went very smoothly, with only minor bleeding. Yu came out of the operation room around 4:30 p.m., and five minutes later the doctor found a bump on the left side of her jaw that wouldn’t stop bleeding. Yu was sent to No. 9 People’s Hospital for further treatment around 6:50 p.m. The doctor told Yu’s mother that Yu had suffered from epilepsy due to an oxygen deficiency, which itself resulted from bleeding during the surgery. Soon, Yu wasn’t able to breathe for herself.

The plastic surgeon who performed the operation claimed that the accident happened because everyone’s blood clots differently. Yu was eventually able to breath independently again, starting on Aug. 7. But even then, Yu still could not walk or eat by herself, and she could not speak a full sentence even after over half a year of treatment. The plastic surgery hospital stopped paying for Yu’s treatment at the end of 2015. Yu’s mother asked the hospital for 5 million yuan in compensation for her daughter’s future epilepsy treatment. The hospital did not agree, but legal proceedings are now underway.