Family members of former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) rushed to the prison hospital in Greater Taichung yesterday upon receiving news that he had broken a bone in a fall on Saturday.
The former first lady, Wu Shu-jen (吳淑珍), had already been informed and paid a visit to her husband over the weekend.
According to Chen Chih-chung (陳致中), son of the former president, his father fell and fractured the fibula, or calf bone, in his right leg.
Chen Chih-chung headed to Greater Taichung yesterday accompanied by his wife, Huang Jui-ching (黃睿靚), to see the incarcerated former president at the prison hospital.
Chen’s family have requested the former president’s son-in-law, Chao Chien-ming (趙建銘), who is an orthopedist, be allowed to attend to him.
Chen Chih-chung posted messages on Facebook on Monday accusing the prison hospital’s supervisors of negligence for not providing medical treatment to his father immediately, and said his father should have been transported to the hospital emergency ward after his fall.
By not doing so, the prison had violated its standard operating procedure, Chen Chih-chung said, accusing the Ministry of Justice of maltreating his father on purpose.
Janice Chen (陳昭姿), spokesperson of the former president’s medical team, said he is in pain and cannot walk because of the fracture.
She also accused the prison hospital of disregarding the situation and not paying attention to the patient.
In response, the prison hospital released a statement, according to which Chen Shui-bian fell down on the floor on Saturday morning and was taken for an X-ray examination.
“The hospital’s radiologist determined it was a slight fracture on the exterior of the fibula bone, but it was not a serious injury,” the statement said.
Prison hospital deputy warden Chao Chung-chih (趙崇智) said the former president made a telephone call to his son-in-law on Saturday to inform him of the fracture and he asked for Chao’s personal medical attention.
Source: Taipei Times - 2014/01/08
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