Ou Lizhi, a doctor in southeastern China, was making her morning rounds last week when a patient approached and demanded treatment. When she could not immediately help, he pulled a knife.
In a scene of chaos partially captured by surveillance cameras at Longmen County People's Hospital in Guangdong Province and widely reported in the state-run press, the alleged assailant, surnamed Liao, slashed her legs and arms, deeply cutting her hand. He then chased her through crowded corridors until, at last, he was subdued.
In an online petition started in the wake of the bloody ordeal, some 600,000 Chinese physicians called for an end to what has become a familiar occurrence in the country's underfunded and overcrowded hospitals: attacks on doctors.
Reports of disgruntled patients wreaking havoc on hospital floors are alarmingly common in China, from the story of the ear, nose and throat specialist stabbed to death on duty, to photographs of mob scenes at clinic gates.
