Three Control Yuan members are investigating whether Taoyuan authorities were negligent in their handling of alleged child abuse at a skilled care facility, including one incident that resulted in the death of a five-year-old boy.
The family of the boy, surnamed Fang (方), said caregivers at the facility in January allegedly “rocked his head forcefully and wrapped tape around his neck, causing the boy to roll on the floor while crying for help,” Control Yuan members Wang Yu-ling (王幼玲), Lin Yu-jung (林郁容) and Chang Chu-fang (張菊芳) said in a statement yesterday.
The boy, who had autism, “bit his fingers and hit his head for 20 minutes, but the facility’s staff turned a blind eye to this,” the statement said.
Photo: CNA
After the boy returned home that afternoon, his family noticed there was something wrong with him and took him to a hospital, where he died the following day, the statement said.
In another incident that occurred at the facility in June, a six-year-old girl diagnosed with autism was allegedly strapped to a chair while she was having an epileptic episode and was not taken to a hospital until more than an hour later, the statement said.
The alleged delay in hospitalization was likely the reason she fell into a coma and sustained permanent brain damage, it said.
The facility staff has also been accused of feeding two residents improperly, including by sitting on the back of one of them to pin him down in one instance, it said.
The Control Yuan members said they were trying to ascertain what actions the Taoyuan Department of Social Welfare took after it received a complaint from Fang’s family, such as demanding an improvement or handing out a punishment.
They are also trying to determine whether the department was negligent in its investigation and handling of alleged child abuse cases, including its supervision of caregivers at skilled care facilities.
The Control Yuan is responsible for investigating and disciplining public servants and agencies.
ANOTHER EMERGES: The CWA yesterday said this year’s fourth storm of the typhoon season had formed in the South China Sea, but was not expected to affect Taiwan Tropical Storm Gaemi has intensified slightly as it heads toward Taiwan, where it is expected to affect the country in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. As of 8am yesterday, the 120km-radius storm was 800km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost tip, moving at 9kph northwest, the agency said. A sea warning for Gaemi could be issued tonight at the earliest, it said, adding that the storm is projected to be closest to Taiwan on Wednesday or Thursday. Gaemi’s potential effect on Taiwan remains unclear, as that would depend on its direction, radius and intensity, forecasters said. Former Weather Forecast
As COVID-19 cases in Japan have been increasing for 10 consecutive weeks, people should get vaccinated before visiting the nation, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said. The centers reported 773 hospitalizations and 124 deaths related to COVID-19 in Taiwan last week. CDC Epidemic Intelligence Center Director Guo Hung-wei (郭宏偉) on Tuesday said the number of weekly COVID-19 cases reported in Japan has been increasing since mid-May and surpassed 55,000 cases from July 8 to July 14. The average number of COVID-19 patients at Japan’s healthcare facilities that week was also 1.39 times that of the week before and KP.3 is the dominant
The Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) working group for Taiwan-related policies is likely to be upgraded to a committee-level body, a report commissioned by the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said. As Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) is increasingly likely to upgrade the CCP’s Central Leading Group for Taiwan Affairs, Taiwanese authorities should prepare by researching Xi and the CCP, the report said. At the third plenary session of the 20th Central Committee of the CCP, which ended on Thursday last week, the party set a target of 2029 for the completion of some tasks, meaning that Xi is likely preparing to
US-CHINA TRADE DISPUTE: Despite Beijing’s offer of preferential treatment, the lure of China has dimmed as Taiwanese and international investors move out Japan and the US have become the favored destinations for Taiwanese graduates as China’s attraction has waned over the years, the Ministry of Labor said. According to the ministry’s latest income and employment advisory published this month, 3,215 Taiwanese university graduates from the class of 2020 went to Japan, surpassing for the first time the 2,881 graduates who went to China. A total of 2,300 graduates from the class of 2021 went to the US, compared with the 2,262 who went to China, the document showed. The trend continued for the class of 2023, of whom 1,460 went to Japan, 1,334 went to