- The 38-year-old man suffered a type of stroke and was abandoned by his lover.
A rejected woman in China has turned off her husband’s life support after he suffered a severe brain haemorrhage at his lover’s home and ended up in hospital.
The 38-year-old had been living with his mistress while he was still technically married, having left his wife some ten years earlier.
But after suffering a stroke at his lover’s house and being taken to hospital, he was admitted to the ICU and fell into a coma.
Doctors desperately tried to contact his wife to get her permission to begin surgery. When she arrived, they told her he had little chance of survival.
The woman allegedly said her husband had been unfaithful and had not provided any support, before refusing to sign the consent form and asking doctors to remove the tracheal tube and give up trying to save him.
File: A man fell into a coma after suffering a brain hemorrhage at his lover’s house
Doctors had initially sought consent from the man’s mistress, but she had already left the hospital, NetEase News reports.
Shortly after, the man’s wife arrived.
Doctors told him that the available equipment would only be able to sustain him for a short time without surgery.
The cost of the surgery would also be very high, he was told, according to the The South China Morning Post.
The woman reportedly told doctors that she had known about his “infidelity” for more than ten years and that he had no feelings for her.
She said she hadn’t loved him for some time either.
It is unclear whether anyone else was consulted in his decision to ask doctors to turn off his life support.
Brain hemorrhage is a type of stroke that causes bleeding within the brain tissue.
This occurs when a weakened blood vessel in the brain begins to leak or suddenly bursts.
The brain has difficulty getting all the oxygen and nutrients it needs, leading to serious damage.
These symptoms can happen to anyone, but they are more likely if you have high blood pressure, smoke, take blood thinners, or have had a head injury, among other things.
In minor cases, doctors may prescribe medications to relieve symptoms and prevent the condition from getting worse.
But in severe cases, emergency surgery may be necessary.
Chinese doctors are required by law to inform the patient’s family about the risks of surgery and to obtain written consent before starting when the patient is unable to provide it themselves.
In some cases, the hospital director may authorize surgery when there is disagreement about how to proceed.
The decision to disconnect another person’s life support remains a sensitive and controversial issue in laws around the world.
File: Doctors in China asked woman for consent to perform risky surgery
A 72-year-old woman was arrested in Germany in 2022 after allegedly turning off a fellow hospital worker’s ventilator twice because she was bothered by the noise it made.
The woman was jailed on suspicion of attempted murder after hospital staff allegedly saw her turning off the ventilator for a second time, after being told earlier in the day that it was vital for the patient and she had to leave it on.
The 79-year-old patient had to be resuscitated but survived in intensive care.
Ventilators inject oxygen into patients’ lungs to allow them to breathe unassisted.
It is not clear what condition the elderly woman was suffering from when she was taken off the ventilator.