A Chinese hotel guest has died after staff failed to deliver life-saving medicine left at the front desk in time, sparking a debate about the hotel’s liability. Photo: SCMP composite/Shutterstock/Douyin
BEIJING (SCMP): A hotel guest in central China died after the staff held on to life-saving medicine for five hours without delivering it, sparking heated online debate over the hotel’s responsibility.
The 51-year-old man, surnamed Hu, was found dead in his room at a Yeste Hotel in Wuhan, Hubei province, on November 20.
Hu’s death confused his friend, Han Shun, who delivered his medicine earlier that day.
Han took Hu, a Wuhan local, to stay at the hotel the previous evening after he finished work in the district that is far from his home.
He received a phone call from Hu the next morning saying he felt unwell and asked him to fetch his medicine from another friend’s home.
Han immediately ran the errand and arrived at the hotel with the medicine around 9.40am, 30 minutes after Hu’s request.
Han asked the front desk staff to deliver the medicine to Hu’s room.
He only knew Hu’s surname and his nickname and could not provide his full details to the hotel.
When he asked the staff to check Hu’s room number and deliver the medicine, they reportedly refused, saying they were not responsible.
Han made multiple phone calls, which Hu did not answer. With another urgent matter to deal with, Han left Hu a message before leaving the hotel.
Five hours later, when Hu was supposed to check out, a hotel cleaner entered his room and found his body.
Hu’s family checked the surveillance video and discovered that the front desk had held on to the medicine all the time.
According to a photograph of the medicine shared by the family, it treats high blood pressure and angina.
Unwell guest Hu was staying at a Yeste Hotel in Wuhan when he became sick. -- Photo: Sina/SCMP
Hu’s family held the hotel responsible for Hu’s death, saying they failed to check the status of their guest knowing he needed medicine and could not be reached.
Hotel staff said Han did not tell them Hu’s illness and they did not open the bag to check the nature of the medicine to protect the guest’s privacy.
Han also said Hu did not tell him what his illness was nor the nature of the medicine.
The tragedy triggered a heated online debate over the hotel’s responsibility.
“I believe the hotel should be responsible for calling the guest to collect the medicine and checking on the guest when he did not answer the call,” one online observer said.
“The friend who delivered the medicine appears to be more responsible for his death because he did not tell the staff his name, room number or the urgency of his condition,” said another.
“He should have gone to the hospital when he felt unwell,” said a third.
“It is difficult to balance protecting privacy and helping guests, but it does not hurt for the staff to go the extra mile and be more thoughtful about the service they are supposed to provide,” another person said.
Lawyer Shang Manqing with the Hubei Fuxi Law Firm told Ningbo Evening News that Han was acting out of goodwill and was not legally responsible for Hu’s death.
As for the hotel’s legal responsibility, Shang said it depends on whether the medicine that the hotel failed to deliver to Hu could have saved him.
Shang also reminded hotels to update their service provision because more people are ordering medicine via delivery platforms. -- SOUTH CHINA MORNING POST
