近日，陕西榆林市一名孕妇在从医院5楼分娩中心坠下身亡。警方排除他杀可能，医院和产妇家属双方各执一词，引发热议。

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Chinese debate medical rights after pregnant woman's suicide

BBC

Chinese social media users are reacting with shock and horror after a heavily pregnant woman killed herself, reportedly after her family refused to let her have a caesarean section*.

*caesarean (section) [sɪ'zeəriən]：an operation in which a woman's uterus is cut open to allow a baby to be born 剖腹产手术，剖宫产术

The 26-year-old woman, surnamed Ma, jumped from a hospital window in northern Shaanxi province on 31 August. The child she was carrying was also killed.

Huo Junwei, a doctor at the Yulin Number One hospital, told China Economic Daily that Ms Ma "left the ward twice and told her family that the pain was unbearable, and that she wanted a caesarean section, but the family were not willing to allow the procedure."

产妇两次自行走出分娩中心，向家属表示疼痛难忍，恳求剖宫产，但家属仍未同意。

Her husband, surnamed Yan, denies this, telling Beijing Youth Daily that "we did not disagree to a caesarean".

A statement from the hospital says Ms Ma was 41 weeks pregnant, and that doctors had decided that "the large foetal head circumference* meant that vaginal delivery would have been very risky".

*circumference [sə(r)'kʌmf(ə)rəns] the line surrounding a circular space, or the length of this line 圆周；周长；周线

The hospital says that when medical staff sought the family's opinion, "the family said they understood, but refused the surgery, and wanted to keep the situation under observation." The hospital statement does not elaborate* on the family members' relationship to Ms Ma.

*elaborate：to add more information to or explain something that you have said 详尽说明；阐述

Mr Yan confirmed that his wife had left the ward twice in pain. He said the situation had made him anxious and that he had asked the doctor to find someone "familiar with caesarean procedures".

He said that by the time he got off the phone, his wife had disappeared. "Knowing my wife's character, I did not think she would have had such a strong reaction," he told Beijing Youth Daily.

Chinese law stipulates* that medical staff must seek permission from family members before carrying out major surgical procedures.

*stipulate：to say exactly how something must be or must be done 规定，约定；明确说明

We have signed a contract which stipulates when the project must be completed.

我们已签署合同，规定了项目必须完成的时间。

But social media users question why Ms Ma was not allowed to make a decision for herself.

"A pregnant woman knows her own situation, why isn't her own signature enough?" asked FreedomMarciaLeyuan, receiving over 10,000 likes.

Wuli Laotiaotiao said "the family should be regarded as murderers," and Liuxingbo added that "they should be sentenced."

Jinling_xiaoxiao_sheng said sarcastically*, "It is wonderful that Chinese patients have no rights to make their own decisions."

This is not the first time that there has been anger over bureaucratic procedures overruling an individual's freedom to decide on their own medical care.

*sarcasticly：讽刺地，嘲笑地，挖苦地

Caesarean sections used to be favoured in China and were seen as a more advanced and less painful way of delivering a child. But the abolition of the one-child policy in October 2015 has changed this.

The state and the media are now actively encouraging parents to try for a second child, and women are being advised to think twice about having the procedure.

"Women need to consider that if they choose C-sections for their first birth, it could affect their second pregnancy," Mao Qun'an, from the official National Health and Family Planning Commission, told the Financial Times in 2016.