Court clears doctor of wrongdoing in fatal smoking altercation

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A court in central China has ruled that a doctor who scolded an elderly man smoking in an elevator was not responsible for the senior's death shortly after the dispute.

The Intermediate People’s Court of Zhengzhou City in Henan Province issued on Tuesday its final ruling on the case, clearing the defendant, identified as Yang Huan, of wrongdoing, and reversing a previous verdict that ordered him to compensate the family of the deceased.

The ruling cannot be appealed in court blocking the way on the deceased man's family who wants to hold Yang accountable over the fatal heart attack of the old man while seeking larger sums in compensation.

The intermediate court's verdict reversed on Tuesday the previous ruling and asked the plaintiff to pay legal fees. /Photo via Jiemian.com

The incident between Yang and the old man took place in May 2017, when the two took the same lift in a residential building in the city of Zhengzhou, the capital of central China's Henan Province.

Footage from a surveillance camera installed in the elevator showed the old man was smoking when Yang, a 37-year-old physician, walked in on the 14th floor. He tried to persuade the senior to put off his cigarette, telling him of its dangers on his health as well as other people's due to second-hand smoke.

However, the old man was undeterred. A quarrel ensued and Yang left to collect a delivery package after a staff from the property management got involved.

A screenshot of the surveillance tape shows the doctor and the old man in the elevator.

Soon after, the old man had a heart attack. Yang rushed for help and gave him emergency treatment. But the senior had breathed his last.

Zhang Yong, the son-in-law of the elderly man, arrived on the scene and called the police. Law enforcers suggested the two sides try to work the issue out among themselves as the case was not of a criminal nature.

Zhang filed a lawsuit to Jinshui District court in Zhengzhou asking for 400,000 yuan (62,500 US dollars) in compensation and claiming that Yang had verbally attacked his relative during the argument causing the fatal heat attack.

The judge did not find Yang guilty of the old man's death, but ordered him to pay 15,000 yuan (2,300 US dollars) to the family "on the principle of fairness."

A screenshot of the surveillance tape shows the doctor and the old man in the elevator.

The bereaved family did not accept the ruling and appealed to the city’s intermediate court last November.

Tuesday's verdict after the final trial was favored by Chinese netizens as more and more cities in China ban people from smoking in closed public areas and next to hospitals, public transportation venues and schools.

"The defendant should appeal against the bereaved family for swindling attempts. If the cigarette had caused a fire, all residents in the building would have died," a Sina Weibo user who goes by the name @Yanyanyanyanyaya commented angrily.

"To respect the elder generation doesn’t mean to respect their age but their behavior," @Gangjingliluo wrote, asking how people could respect a person who is not behaving properly.

Health China is a 2015 campaign encouraging people to live healthy and stay away from smoking. /VCG Photo‍

China has implemented the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control since 2006. According to a regulation on smoking in Zhengzhou, residents have the right to dissuade a smoker from smoking in no-smoking areas. Beijing has even set up a supervision hotline for people to report cases of public smoking.

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