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Student claims father poisoned him for being gay

Su Ming-che displays a pill yesterday that he says Shin Kong Hospital officials tried to make him swallow to treat his ``psychological disorder.'' Su has accused his parents of poisoning him and falsely claiming he was mentally ill. PHOTO: LIAO CHEN-HUI, TAIPEI TIMES

A college student yesterday accused his father of poisoning him and forcing him to be treated in the psychiatric department of a hospital after he told this parents that he might be homosexual.

Su Ming-che (蘇敏哲), 22, a student at National Chengchi University, made the accusations at a press conference in Taipei organized by Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Huang Wei-cher (黃偉哲).

Su said that after he told his family members that he might be gay, he had been unable to win their understanding.

"On April 29, when my parents and I were having drinks in a coffeeshop, my drink was poisoned. I was then sent to Shin Kong Hospital in an ambulance," he said.

"I read from my case report that my parents were demanding that I be hospitalized," he said.

During the 56 days he was in the hospital, the doctor examined him but didn't make any diagnosis, Su said, adding that he had refused to take medications while in was in the hospital.

"I pretended to take pills at 9pm every night but then spit them out after the nurse left. I wanted to prove that I was not ill," he said.

He added that he had gone to three other hospitals for a psychiatric examination after he was released from Shin Kong, and they all told him he was normal.

Several days ago, Su filed a lawsuit against his father, accusing him of domestic violence in relation to the alleged poisoning, and one against Shin Kong Hospital, accusing it of violating the Mental Health Act's (精神衛生法) stipulations on hospitalizing psychiatric patients.

According to a story in yesterday's Chinese-language Apple Daily, Su's father said that his son had mental problems and needed to be hospitalized for psychiatric care.

"I can't forgive him for suing a family member. Can he say that he is not sick after he has accused his family?" the newspaper quoted Su's father as saying.

During the press conference, Huang called on the government to reflect on whether the process for hospitalizing psychiatric patients was flawed.
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