A spokesperson for former president Chen Shui-bian’s (陳水扁) voluntary civilian medical team, Janice Chen (陳昭姿), said yesterday that she was prohibited from visiting the former president after an incident involving Next Magazine on Jan. 30, unless she signed a recognizance vowing to not disclose any information beyond what strictly pertains to his medical treatment.
The online version of Next Magazine, published on Jan. 30, featured 28 seconds of footage, provided by an anonymous reader, showing Chen Shui-bian’s right hand trembling, that his expression seemed vacant and that he had trouble talking.
The publication of the footage caused Taipei Veterans General Hospital, the current facility in charge of Chen’s medical treatment, to clash with Chen Shun-sheng (陳順勝), a member of Chen Shui-bian’s voluntary civilian medical team, with the hospital claiming that Chen Shun-sheng was not an expert in the field.
According to Janice Chen’s Facebook post, she wished to dispel rumors that she had been behind the magazine’s decision to publish the footage, claiming that the video had been taken by former Department of Health minister Twu Shiing-jer (涂醒哲) and had been taken by reporters from Twu’s Facebook site after he had uploaded the file.
According to a report in the Apple Daily on Jan. 31, Twu said he had made the footage as a concerned friend, adding that he had felt that the footage should be shown to doctors to look over.
Twu further said that he had asked for and received the approval of Chen Shui-bian and his family before the footage was released.
Janice Chen wrote that when she visited Chen Shui-bian with Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Chen Chie-ju (陳節如) on Tuesday, Chen Shui-bian said that he had almost fallen that morning, and that he did not hit the ground only because there had been a sofa on the side.
Janice Chen wrote that Chen Shui-bian had taken out forms listing his current and past medication, saying that the doses had become heavier and there were some side-effects that were starting to show, adding that Chen Shui-bian also said one of the medications prescribed in his current list was a drug to fight Parkinson’s disease.
According to Chen Chang-ming (陳昌明), the doctor in charge of Chen Shui-bian’s treatment, the hospital had already consulted multiple experts in the field of extrapyramidal symptoms (EPS), and it has already ruled out Parkinson’s disease, but Chen Shui-bian may be afflicted with Parkinsonian syndromes or Essential Tremor.
EPS is an umbrella term for multiple movement disorders, and Parkisonian syndromes refer to other etiologies leading to similar symptoms, as distinguished from Parikinson’s disease, the term used for neurological degeneration in the central nervous system without a known cause.
Essential tremor is also a neurological degenerative disorder that is progressive, and has been identified as a disorder caused in part due to genetics and also exposure to certain toxins.
“[Former] president Chen was highly commendatory of the voluntary medical team, saying that the numerous discoveries the team had made had all later been confirmed by the Taipei Veterans General Hospital,” Janice Chen wrote.
“I was diagnosed with major depressive disorder, frontotemporal lobe atrophy and gastroesophageal reflux disorder by doctors that worked with the voluntary civilian medic group. The same diagnoses were later made by the medical team at Taipei Veterans General Hospital,” Chen Shui-bian said.
Janice Chen added that despite knowing that many were concerned for former president Chen, she and others would not be able to divulge any more information on the subject in the following days and urged people who are concerned to remain patient.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫), spokeswoman Yang Chih-yu (楊智伃) and Legislator Hsieh Lung-chieh (謝龍介) would be summoned by police for questioning for leading an illegal assembly on Thursday evening last week, Minister of the Interior Liu Shyh-fang (劉世芳) said today. The three KMT officials led an assembly outside the Taipei City Prosecutors’ Office, a restricted area where public assembly is not allowed, protesting the questioning of several KMT staff and searches of KMT headquarters and offices in a recall petition forgery case. Chu, Yang and Hsieh are all suspected of contravening the Assembly and Parade Act (集會遊行法) by holding
PRAISE: Japanese visitor Takashi Kubota said the Taiwanese temple architecture images showcased in the AI Art Gallery were the most impressive displays he saw Taiwan does not have an official pavilion at the World Expo in Osaka, Japan, because of its diplomatic predicament, but the government-backed Tech World pavilion is drawing interest with its unique recreations of works by Taiwanese artists. The pavilion features an artificial intelligence (AI)-based art gallery showcasing works of famous Taiwanese artists from the Japanese colonial period using innovative technologies. Among its main simulated displays are Eastern gouache paintings by Chen Chin (陳進), Lin Yu-shan (林玉山) and Kuo Hsueh-hu (郭雪湖), who were the three young Taiwanese painters selected for the East Asian Painting exhibition in 1927. Gouache is a water-based
Taiwan would welcome the return of Honduras as a diplomatic ally if its next president decides to make such a move, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said yesterday. “Of course, we would welcome Honduras if they want to restore diplomatic ties with Taiwan after their elections,” Lin said at a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee, when asked to comment on statements made by two of the three Honduran presidential candidates during the presidential campaign in the Central American country. Taiwan is paying close attention to the region as a whole in the wake of a
OFF-TARGET: More than 30,000 participants were expected to take part in the Games next month, but only 6,550 foreign and 19,400 Taiwanese athletes have registered Taipei city councilors yesterday blasted the organizers of next month’s World Masters Games over sudden timetable and venue changes, which they said have caused thousands of participants to back out of the international sporting event, among other organizational issues. They also cited visa delays and political interference by China as reasons many foreign athletes are requesting refunds for the event, to be held from May 17 to 30. Jointly organized by the Taipei and New Taipei City governments, the games have been rocked by numerous controversies since preparations began in 2020. Taipei City Councilor Lin Yen-feng (林延鳳) said yesterday that new measures by
RSS