Chinese Physicians Under Assault: Reading the Landscape of Hospital Violence in China

This study focused on an important but often overlooked aspect of safety in medicine: physician safety. In China, patients may violently protest against doctors via disruptive behaviors when facing unsatisfying results, jeopardizing physicians’ security, affecting their diagnostic reasoning, and ultimately harming patient safety. We investigated the relationship between disruptive behaviors, government intervention, and protest results. Statistical analyses reveal that the ‘paying for peace’ mechanism can create distorted incentives for patients and encourage more riots. Efforts should be made to improve service quality and channel medical disputes into the legal framework.

Lingrui Liu is an Associate Research Scientist at the Yale School of Public Health, Department of Health Policy and Management. Prior to joining the YSPH faculty in fall of 2018, she obtained an ScD from Harvard University (2018). Her research interests include health care organizations, quality improvement, patient safety, organizational design and culture, and implementation of evidence-based practices.