A senior Chinese judge on Sunday vowed to bring to justice patients or their relatives whose assaults against doctors have constituted crimes.
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Cheng Xinwen, of the Supreme People's Court (SPC), made the remarks during an online interview with Internet users held by the SPC website.
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Cheng pledged fair court judgments to ease doctor-patient tensions and encourage rational and legitimate protection of rights on the patients' side.
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The comments came after a series of attacks on doctors in China in recent years, including a case earlier this month where a young doctor in the southern city of Chaozhou was mobbed by dozens of people following the death of a patient.
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Chinese courts are receiving an increasing number of lawsuits regarding patient-doctor disputes and in some cases, the patients or their family members have resorted to extreme measures to express their grievances, Cheng said.
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The courts will hold those who have seriously impinged on doctors' rights to life, health and personality liable in accordance with the law, according to the judge.