A 10-month-old Chinese child was taken to the hospital urgently after suffering from fever and convulsions. It was later discovered that his body was covered with hundreds of stab wounds. The infant was admitted on December 16 of last year to the Pediatrics Department of the People’s Hospital of Mojiang County in Pu’er, Yunnan Province, southwest China, where examinations revealed puncture wounds spread throughout his body.
Shocking details of torture
Doctor Sui Wenyuan – a spine surgeon at Xinhua Hospital affiliated with Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine – narrated the details of the case in a video clip that spread on the Internet, and explained that the child’s mother, who bears the surname Dao, used to stab him with needles when he misbehaved or had a cold or fever, considering it a form of punishment or a popular treatment. The doctor estimated that the child was stabbed between 500 and 600 times, noting that the needle used in the last incident was intended To sew shoe soles and they broke inside the child’s neck, according to what the SCMP website reported.
A child is exposed to hundreds of stab wounds due to his mother’s behavior
Precision surgery and child saving
Sawa explained that the tip of the needle lodged in the cervical spine, which required urgent and precise surgical intervention, especially with the lack of knowledge of the full shape of the needle or whether it contained thorns. He confirmed that the medical team conducted all the necessary tests and was able to perform the operation successfully on the same day of the consultation. Three to four days after the surgery, the child’s temperature dropped and he was transferred from intensive care.
An official investigation and widespread outrage
On January 21, a joint investigation committee including the Public Security Bureau, the Health Committee, the Department of Civil Affairs, and the Women’s Union issued an official statement in which it confirmed that the needle wounds were caused by the behavior of the mother who used folk acupuncture without any scientific knowledge, noting that she suffered from emotional anxiety and poor education. It is still unclear whether she faced legal consequences, while the case sparked a widespread wave of anger on social media amid demands to protect the child and prevent the recurrence of such incidents.
