Former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) is to apply to the Ministry of Justice for medical parole after his latest examination showed that his deteriorating state of health meets the criteria for medical parolees, his son, Chen Chih-chung (陳致中), said yesterday, even though the ministry on Monday had denied that his condition meets the requirements for such a parole.
Chen Chih-chung said his family made the decision after the Taichung Veterans General Hospital examined his father on Nov. 4.
Minister of Justice Luo Ying-shay (羅瑩雪) on Monday said that Chen Shui-bian does not qualify for medical parole. However, she said that he had three options.
Photo: CNA
Luo said Chen could file another appeal to the Taipei District Court or lodge an objection with the Taiwan High Court against the decision by the ministry’s Agency of Corrections in October to reject his parole request.
The corrections agency on Oct. 29 rejected the request for parole, and Chen filed an appeal with the Taipei District Court. The court dismissed his appeal on Nov. 26.
Luo also said that Chen Shui-bian could apply to be diagnosed by the corrections agency, which could then consider including physicians recommended by his family on the health exam team.
Chen Chih-chung said that the motions the ministry proposed “take time and we do not have much time to spare.”
“Another point is that all these motions might in the end be referred back to the ministry due to their politically sensitive nature anyway,” he added.
Taipei Veterans General Hospital physician Kuo Cheng-deng (郭正典) — a member of the former president’s volunteer medical team — said it is “utter nonsense” for the ministry to claim that Chen Shui-bian does not need medical parole because he “keeps a normal schedule, and is eating and drinking regularly.”
“You might as well ask the Taipei Veterans General Hospital to discharge all patients other than those in its intensive care unit and emergency room,” he said.
Kuo said the ministry was “lying” when it said that Taichung Prison is “capable of handling Chen Shui-bian’s health concerns,” because the facility does not have any medical staff and even the caretakers are not properly trained in medical care.
The Nov. 4 exam found that Chen Shui-bian had shown symptoms of choking, the cause of which could be neurodegeneration, Kuo said, adding that the choking could cause sudden death by suffocation.
Chen Shui-bian’s urinary incontinence has worsened and he suffers incontinence more than 80 times a day, Kuo said, adding that his other ailments include sleep apnea, which has persisted despite surgery for it, major depression and benign prostate hyperplasia — non-cancerous enlargement of the prostate.
The Democratic Progressive Party’s branch in Greater Tainan yesterday held a press conference at which the former president’s 88-year-old mother, Chen Li Shen (陳李慎), called on the government to “let me be together with my son again.”
In tears, she said it has been heartbreaking for her to see her son emaciated and afflicted with all kinds of ailments after he was put behind bars.
“I’m afraid that I may never be with him again” if he does not get out soon, she said.
FALSE DOCUMENTS? Actor William Liao said he was ‘voluntarily cooperating’ with police after a suspect was accused of helping to produce false medical certificates Police yesterday questioned at least six entertainers amid allegations of evasion of compulsory military service, with Lee Chuan (李銓), a member of boy band Choc7 (超克7), and actor Daniel Chen (陳大天) among those summoned. The New Taipei City District Prosecutors’ Office in January launched an investigation into a group that was allegedly helping men dodge compulsory military service using falsified medical documents. Actor Darren Wang (王大陸) has been accused of being one of the group’s clients. As the investigation expanded, investigators at New Taipei City’s Yonghe Precinct said that other entertainers commissioned the group to obtain false documents. The main suspect, a man surnamed
DEMOGRAPHICS: Robotics is the most promising answer to looming labor woes, the long-term care system and national contingency response, an official said Taiwan is to launch a five-year plan to boost the robotics industry in a bid to address labor shortages stemming from a declining and aging population, the Executive Yuan said yesterday. The government approved the initiative, dubbed the Smart Robotics Industry Promotion Plan, via executive order, senior officials told a post-Cabinet meeting news conference in Taipei. Taiwan’s population decline would strain the economy and the nation’s ability to care for vulnerable and elderly people, said Peter Hong (洪樂文), who heads the National Science and Technology Council’s (NSTC) Department of Engineering and Technologies. Projections show that the proportion of Taiwanese 65 or older would
Democracies must remain united in the face of a shifting geopolitical landscape, former president Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) told the Copenhagen Democracy Summit on Tuesday, while emphasizing the importance of Taiwan’s security to the world. “Taiwan’s security is essential to regional stability and to defending democratic values amid mounting authoritarianism,” Tsai said at the annual forum in the Danish capital. Noting a “new geopolitical landscape” in which global trade and security face “uncertainty and unpredictability,” Tsai said that democracies must remain united and be more committed to building up resilience together in the face of challenges. Resilience “allows us to absorb shocks, adapt under
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) yesterday said it is building nine new advanced wafer manufacturing and packaging factories this year, accelerating its expansion amid strong demand for high-performance computing (HPC) and artificial intelligence (AI) applications. The chipmaker built on average five factories per year from 2021 to last year and three from 2017 to 2020, TSMC vice president of advanced technology and mask engineering T.S. Chang (張宗生) said at the company’s annual technology symposium in Hsinchu City. “We are quickening our pace even faster in 2025. We plan to build nine new factories, including eight wafer fabrication plants and one advanced
RSS