A pregnant woman's relatives and a hospital in Yulin, Shaanxi province, are blaming each other for rejecting the woman's request to have a C-section, which allegedly led to her jumping to her death from the fifth floor of the hospital.
The 26-year-old woman, Ma Rongrong, who was a week away from delivery, was admitted to the First Hospital of Yulin on Wednesday to give birth, the hospital said in a statement dated on Sunday.
Medical checks showed the baby's head was bigger than normal, suggesting higher risks during natural birth, the statement said.
Ma's doctor advised her and her family to give Ma a C-section, but her family refused and signed a document at the hospital confirming that Ma would deliver naturally, the statement said.
She was transferred to the delivery room on Thursday morning but later left the room several times because of pain. She asked her husband to allow a C-section. Her doctor and nurses also advised her husband to allow the surgery, but all requests were rejected, the statement said.
Ma became emotional and lost control due to pain, and jumped out of the building later that day and died, the statement said.
Yan Zhuangzhuang, Ma's husband, said in a statement that she left the delivery room at about 6 pm on Thursday, adding that his wife had asked to have a C-section and that he had agreed immediately.
The husband's statement said the doctor checked Ma's condition and said she was going to give birth soon and did not need a C-section.
After more than an hour a nurse came out of the delivery room and told him Ma had disappeared. He later saw Ma's body being lifted from the ground and put onto a stretcher, the statement said.
According to Huashang Daily, Ma fell from the fifth floor of an inpatient building at about 8 pm on Thursday and died after rescue efforts failed. The police ruled out foul play.
Neither Yan nor the hospital answered phone calls from China Daily on Tuesday.
Under a regulation released by the State Council, China's Cabinet, medical institutions must get consent from patients and a signature from a family member before performing surgery, but doctors can make decisions without consent in emergencies.
Gong Xiaoming, a gynecologist at Shanghai First Maternity and Infant Hospital, said pregnant women should have the right to decide whether to have a natural birth or C-section.
"In reality, in many cases in China the decision to have a C-section is made by the patients' family members and the doctors," he said.
