A 10-month-old baby had to be rushed to hospital with his body covered in needle marks after he was allegedly stabbed hundreds of times by his abusive mother.
The infant’s plight sparked a wave of outrage online.
A video telling of the child’s treatment was posted online recently by an online viewer known as “Spine Surgeon Dr Sui Wenyuan”.
The poster is an attending doctor at the Spine Centre of Xinhua Hospital affiliated to Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine.
In the video, Sui recounts the horrific case he encountered during a paediatric consultation.
On December 16, last year, a 10-month-old baby boy was admitted to the Paediatrics Department of the People’s Hospital of Mojiang County in Pu’er, Yunnan province, in southwestern China with a fever and convulsions.
Sui discovered that when the child misbehaved or developed a cold or fever, his mother, surnamed Dao, would stab him with needles to draw blood as a form of punishment or folk remedy.
Sui estimated the baby may have been punctured between 500 and 600 times.
In the most recent incident, Dao had inserted a needle, typically used for sewing shoe soles, into the child’s neck.
The needle broke, and the tip became embedded in the cervical spine, requiring surgery.
Footage shows numerous puncture wounds and dark scabs across the boy’s feet, head and torso.
Details about Dao and her husband remain undisclosed.
Sui said the surgery was challenging because the parents were unsure of the needle’s exact shape and if it had barbs.
As a result, removing it in the wrong direction could have hooked onto other tissue and caused severe damage.
“We completed all necessary tests and successfully performed the surgery on the same day as the consultation,” Sui said.
“The child had a high fever, possibly due to rust on the needle. However, three to four days after the operation, his temperature dropped and he was transferred out of intensive care.”
On January 21, a joint investigation team, comprising the Public Security Bureau, health commission, civil affairs department and a women’s federation, issued an official statement.
They determined that the needle wounds on the boy’s body were inflicted by his mother, who had used a traditional folk “needling” method in an attempt to treat him herself.
Dao is poorly educated and lacks any scientific knowledge. She also showed signs of emotional anxiety.
While China has laws in place against child abuse, it remains unclear whether Dao has faced any legal consequences.
The incident sparked a wave of online outrage.
One person said: “How terrifying. I cannot believe someone could be this cruel in this day and age.”
Another wrote: “That child is so pitiful, born into the wrong family. Please do not let the biological parents raise him any more.”
While a third added: “So heartless. She should have stabbed herself instead. Just imagine how much pain that tiny baby must have felt.” -- SOUTH CHINA MORNING POST
