Former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) is suffering from various ailments, and it would not be good for him to return to prison, his attending physician told lawmakers yesterday.
Chou Yuan-hua (周元華), a psychiatrist in charge of Chen’s care at Taipei Veterans General Hospital (TVGH), added that it would be better for the former president to be looked after at home or to stay in a hospital that has a psychiatry department near his home.
When Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) asked if there was a possibility that Chen might commit suicide if he were sent back to Taipei Prison, Chou said: “There is definitely a possibility.”
Photo: Chen Chih-chu, Taipei Times
Chou was giving a report on the former president’s current condition at a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee.
After nasal septum deviation surgery recently, Chou said Chen’s sleep apnea has improved, but there was a high risk of a relapse.
Chou added that Chen’s speech impediment had not visibly improved over the past half year. Two brain magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) exams found that he has cerebral atrophy and hand tremors, and doctors are still monitoring these conditions.
While there seem to be signs that Chen is recovering from severe depression, he still suffers from anxiety and insomnia, Chou added.
“I know that Taipei Prison has tried to improve Chen’s environment in the prison, but the treatment of severe depression should factor in the atmosphere and the patient’s mental state. I believe it would not be good for Chen to go back to prison now,” Chou said.
TVGH superintendent Lin Fang-yue (林芳郁) told the meeting that TVGH is a hospital for the treatment of severe and emergency conditions. While Chen’s immediate symptoms have been treated, depression is a chronic disease that requires lengthy treatment in a psychiatric ward.
Despite the doctors’ report, Deputy Minister of Justice Chen Ming-tang (陳明堂) reiterated that Chen’s current medical treatment is sufficient to care for his long-term health, and his condition does not qualify him for medical parole.
DPP Legislator Chen Ting-fei (陳亭妃) said it was very clear that the medical report says Chen should be cared for at home and that he should not go back to the prison, but the ministry does not seem to comprehend the report.
Chen Ming-tang said the ministry would evaluate TVGH’s report and make a decision in three weeks.
The former president is serving a 20-year sentence for corruption.
Prosecutors in New Taipei City yesterday indicted 31 individuals affiliated with the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) for allegedly forging thousands of signatures in recall campaigns targeting three Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers. The indictments stem from investigations launched earlier this year after DPP lawmakers Su Chiao-hui (蘇巧慧) and Lee Kuen-cheng (李坤城) filed criminal complaints accusing campaign organizers of submitting false signatures in recall petitions against them. According to the New Taipei District Prosecutors Office, a total of 2,566 forged recall proposal forms in the initial proposer petition were found during the probe. Among those
ECHOVIRUS 11: The rate of enterovirus infections in northern Taiwan increased last week, with a four-year-old girl developing acute flaccid paralysis, the CDC said Two imported cases of chikungunya fever were reported last week, raising the total this year to 13 cases — the most for the same period in 18 years, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said yesterday. The two cases were a Taiwanese and a foreign national who both arrived from Indonesia, CDC Epidemic Intelligence Center Deputy Director Lee Chia-lin (李佳琳) said. The 13 cases reported this year are the most for the same period since chikungunya was added to the list of notifiable communicable diseases in October 2007, she said, adding that all the cases this year were imported, including 11 from
China might accelerate its strategic actions toward Taiwan, the South China Sea and across the first island chain, after the US officially entered a military conflict with Iran, as Beijing would perceive Washington as incapable of fighting a two-front war, a military expert said yesterday. The US’ ongoing conflict with Iran is not merely an act of retaliation or a “delaying tactic,” but a strategic military campaign aimed at dismantling Tehran’s nuclear capabilities and reshaping the regional order in the Middle East, said National Defense University distinguished adjunct lecturer Holmes Liao (廖宏祥), former McDonnell Douglas Aerospace representative in Taiwan. If
The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) today condemned the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) after the Czech officials confirmed that Chinese agents had surveilled Vice President Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) during her visit to Prague in March last year. Czech Military Intelligence director Petr Bartovsky yesterday said that Chinese operatives had attempted to create the conditions to carry out a demonstrative incident involving Hsiao, going as far as to plan a collision with her car. Hsiao was vice president-elect at the time. The MAC said that it has requested an explanation and demanded a public apology from Beijing. The CCP has repeatedly ignored the desires