The Taipei District Court yesterday ordered a doctor to pay over NT$35 million in damages to his wife for intentionally dissuading her from seeking medical treatment after she discovered she had breast cancer.
Chien Chih-hung (簡志弘), a family practitioner at Chiayi Veterans Hospital, was recently sentenced to five years by the Taiwan High Court for causing serious injuries to his wife by lying to her and preventing her from seeking medical treatment for breast cancer.
In separate civil litigation, the Taipei District Court awarded damages of NT$35,642,188 yesterday to the wife, Tang Hsui-pin (
"In a marriage, both husband and wife are obliged to help each other in time of crisis. Moreover, as a doctor, the defendant was obligated to tell the plaintiff of her condition. The defendant, however, has failed in both roles of husband and doctor," the court said.
NT$3 million in damages was awarded as compensation for the plaintiff's mental suffering resulting from the defendant's wrongdoing. The rest was awarded to remedy Tang's property losses -- as a former deputy editor in chief of a publishing company, she had been unable to work since falling ill.
After hearing the ruling, Tang said outside the courtroom that she felt satisfied with the result.
"It cannot remedy my physical pain. But it highlights the value of life and the nature of marriage," Tang said. She is now confined to a wheelchair as a result of her medical condition.
Tang said her condition was deteriorating but that she wanted to spend the rest of her life in a "meaningful" way -- writing and helping other cancer patients.
Commenting on her relationship with her husband, Tang said she had no contact with him anymore. "I just don't care about him anymore," she said.
Chien and Tang were married in 1994, but later that year he had an affair with a nurse during an official trip to Ilan County. After Chien began the relationship with the nurse, he became impatient with his wife, who suffers from rheumatoid arthritis, the court said.
In 1995, Tang discovered a lump in her breast and informed her husband. Chien, considering his professional knowledge, knew the lump was a symptom of breast cancer, but told his wife it was "not a big deal," the court ruling said.
Furthermore, he tried to convince her it was just a "hormonal imbalance" or that it was due to "too much stress." With these assurances, his wife failed to seek help from other doctors, the court found.
In early 1996, Chien's wife discovered that her right breast was bleeding and anxiously told her husband about it. Once again, Chien lied to his wife about her condition, telling her that the bleeding was probably because she had scrubbed her breast too hard while taking a shower, the court found.
Still anxious about the bleeding, Chien's wife told him she wanted to see a doctor who specialized in diseases of the breasts.
Chien again tried to prevent his wife from seeing other doctors, telling her, "I'm a doctor, you're not going to get a different result from other doctors," the court found.
In late 1996, Chien became engaged to the nurse while he was still married to his sick wife. It was not until March 1997, when she fainted and was taken by her family to a hospital, that the wife was told that she had terminal breast cancer. Her condition was so serious that she was told she had less than a 50-percent chance of survival for another five years, the court found.
Last September, the district court ruled that Chien was guilty of attempted murder and sentenced him to six years and seven months in jail. However, his conviction was changed to assault and his sentence reduced after he filed an appeal to the Taiwan High Court.
The defendant can still appeal to the high court over the compensation awarded by the district court.
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