Hospitals in Beijing reject 67-year-old pregnant woman

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A 67-year-old Chinese woman, who is pregnant with twins, has been denied medical care in a number of hospitals in Beijing because of doctors' concern over the high risks involved in her pregnancy.

Zhang Heng decided to get pregnant, despite her age, after her 34-year-old son died in a car accident four years ago. She said she's been advised by doctors to abort, but intends to keep the babies.

Zhang lost her only son in a car accident four years ago. /Screenshot from Btime

Heartbroken over the loss of their only child, Zhang and her husband repeatedly tried to have another child.

They initially decided to adopt from a local agency but their plan failed because, by the time the adoption process would be over, Zheng would have been too old. The couple looked to adoption agencies in other cities, but got repeatedly turned down for the same reason.

Zhang is determined to give birth to her twins despite being rejected by several hospitals. /Photo via Beijing News

Finally, in 2017, she decided to try in vitro fertilization (IVF) and a hospital in Taiwan accepted her for the procedure. It was a success and she became pregnant with twins.

When Zhang was back in Beijing, she visited the Baodao Healthcare, a maternity hospital, for a prenatal check. The hospital found she suffered from high blood pressure, but was unable to treat her because it would be dangerous for her pregnancy, so they transferred her to Peking University Third Hospital.

There, Zhang was diagnosed with gestational hypertension, among other conditions that reportedly posed a danger to her health. The woman was told she should terminate her pregnancy.

Having already been rejected by two hospitals, Zhang continued her search but other hospitals declined to treat her reportedly because the local health authority had informed medical institutions in the region of her case, which made her feel like a “criminal,” according to Beijing News.

Zhang's prenatal check report. /Screenshot from Btime

Zhang said she was using pills to fall asleep because of the grief from losing her only son, who was born in 1980 when families adhered to the one-child policy, which was officially scrapped in 2016.

After she became pregnant with twins, she began to feel hopeful again, but that has changed since her request for care was turned down multiple times.

Zhang told Btime that she spent more than 200,000 yuan on IVF treatment and prepared herself beforehand by doing exercises that included swimming one kilometer a day to improve her health.

There is no specific age limit on pregnancy in Chinese law, but insiders in the health industry suggested the authorities set an upper limit, Beijing News has reported.