Four Miaoli high-school students remained in intensive care in a local hospital yesterday, five days after being admitted following an intensive “punishment” session involving hundreds of squat jumps ordered by senior members of the school’s Boy Scout/Girl Scout club.
The parents of the four have reportedly said they are not ruling out taking legal action against the school.
According to school authorities, senior scouts were upset that the club had not performed as well as expected at two events they had arranged. They demanded that 12 younger scouts perform jump squats to “remind themselves” not to make such “mistakes.”
Six of the 12, including the club’s current head, surnamed Tai (戴), complained of sore legs after the session and were taken to hospital.
The six were diagnosed with rhabdomyolysis — the breakdown of muscle tissue resulting in the release of muscle fiber contents into the blood, which can damage the kidneys.
Tai said she knew of the tradition of “senior mentoring” when she joined the club, adding that all of the seniors had been on-hand during the exercise session.
She said she did not feel that the younger members had been bullied, but felt the seniors’ orders had been out of line.
The dean of the school, Huang Kuo-feng (黃國峰), said the seniors involved had not expected the younger students to be injured by the exercises, but that the school has suspended all the scouting club’s activities and training.
The school will take steps to ensure that the younger students learn how to say “no” to inappropriate or unreasonable requests by seniors, Huang said.
While none of the parents have said that they would seek legal action, they are unhappy with what they feel has been the school’s slow response to the incident and the pace of is investigation, Miaoli City Police Department sources said yesterday.
Yang Kuo-lung (楊國隆), director of the Ministry of Education’s K-12 Education Administration, said he believed the seniors had not been malignant when they demanded the jump squats and it was simply a case of students being unsure where to draw the line.
“We have asked the school to send experts to visit the hospitalized students and discuss whether the event should be considered bullying before further action is taken,” Yang said.
Asked about the students’ injuries, Tsai Ming-tsun (蔡明村), an attending physician in the intensive care unit at Wei Gong Memorial Hospital in Hsinchu City’s Toufen District (頭份), said that rhabdomyolysis can be caused by overexertion of muscles, crushing wounds or heatstroke.
If individuals experience severe muscular pain over a large area, they should immediately rest, drink large amounts of liquid and then seek medical attention to prevent acute kidney failure, the doctor said.
The breakdown of muscle tissue can send uric acid into the bloodstream, which can clog the renal tubule and cause kidney stones or, in severe cases, kidney failure, Tsai said, adding that in some cases rhabdomyolysis can lead to cardiac arrhythmia or cardiac arrest.
Additional reporting by Rachel Lin and Cheng Hung-ta
South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol yesterday declared emergency martial law, accusing the opposition of being “anti-state forces intent on overthrowing the regime” amid parliamentary wrangling over a budget bill. “To safeguard a liberal South Korea from the threats posed by North Korea’s communist forces and to eliminate anti-state elements plundering people’s freedom and happiness, I hereby declare emergency martial law,” Yoon said in a live televised address to the nation. “With no regard for the livelihoods of the people, the opposition party has paralysed governance solely for the sake of impeachments, special investigations, and shielding their leader from justice,” he
The Mainland Affairs Council and lawmakers yesterday accused a visiting Chinese university student of denigrating Taiwan’s sovereignty by referring to the national baseball team that won a first-ever Premier12 title as “China, Taipei team” (中國台北隊). “We deeply regret the Chinese student’s words, that have hurt the feelings of Taiwanese... The Ma Ying-jeou Foundation, as the organizers, should remind group members not to use inappropriate words and behavior,” a council statement said. “We hope these young Chinese can accurately observe the true views of Taiwanese, which would be a positive development for interactions between young people on the two sides of the Taiwan
PHONE CALLS: Two US lawmakers told Lai about the US Congress’ bipartisan support for Taiwan to preserve its democracy and freedom, and for stronger bilateral ties US House of Representatives Speaker Mike Johnson said during a telephone call with President William Lai (賴清德) yesterday morning that recognition of Taiwan is at the core of the US’ Indo-Pacific strategy, Presidential Office spokesperson Karen Kuo (郭雅慧) said. The call marked the first time Lai had spoken directly with Johnson, of the Republican Party, since taking office in May. Lai also had a call with US House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries of the Democratic Party and a videoconference with Republican Senator Roger Wicker while in Guam, during a stopover on his way back from visiting the nation’s allies in the Pacific,
China is trying to set a "red line" for the incoming Trump administration and US allies by stepping up military activities in the region, a senior Taiwan security official said, including likely war games this weekend around Taiwan. China has held two rounds of war games around Taiwan so far this year, and its forces operate nearby on a daily basis. The official confirmed concerns expressed by other security officials in the region who have previously told Reuters that China could launch new drills to coincide with Taiwan President William Lai's (賴清德) trip to the Pacific this week which included visits to
RSS