Chinese surgeons punished for taking photos with patient

Several surgeons and nurses of a hospital in China have been punished with a three months salary cut and warnings after they posted pictures posing alongside a patient undergoing surgery.
Public anger was sparked when one of the doctors posted five of the pictures from the hospital in Xian, Shannxi Province, online, Hong Kong-based South China Morning Post reported.
In one of the snaps, doctors and nurses linked arms next to the unconscious patient and grin behind their masks, while two others continue to finish the procedure.
Another one shows the group making "V for victory" signs, while a third clearly shows the unconscious patient, with one of the snap-happy doctors holding up an intravenous drip bag.

Following the online anger, Chinese health officials launched investigation and identified the medical staff at the private Fengcheng Hospital.
All of the hospital's management staff and the doctors and nurses involved were deducted three months' salary and given official warnings by the municipal health bureau, the Post report said.

The hospital's management made a public apology on Sunday night, saying that staff had taken the pictures as souvenirs of their old operating room, which was due to be closed in favour of new facilities.
The hospital said it would ensure that it improved the management of its medical staff in future.

"We won't release any private information about the patient, like age, gender or what the operation was. What we are going to do now is to make a month-long rectification to manage medical staff," a doctor at the hospital said.