Chinese hospital doctor guilty of stealing and selling seven babies

 
Trafficking ring: Zhang Shuxia is led away after being sentenced
Michael Howie14 January 2014

A Chinese obstetrician was today found guilty of stealing and selling seven babies born at the hospital where she worked.

Zhang Shuxia received a suspended death sentence which is normally commuted to life imprisonment after two years.

She told parents that their newborn children had congenital problems and persuaded them to give them up, according to the Weinan People’s Court.

The case exposed a baby trafficking ring that operated across several provinces and which centred on Zhang.

Police said they were still investigating 50 related cases, including 26 linked to Zhang and several other suspects. She worked in the maternal and child healthcare hospital in Fuping, Shaanxi province. According to the court, she admitted selling the babies to traffickers who then sold the babies at higher prices to parents desperate for children.

In one case Zhang received £2,180 when she passed a boy to a trafficker, who sold the child for £6,040 to a couple in China’s Henan province.

Altogether, she sold seven babies to middlemen who re-sold the babies between November 2011 and July last year. Six of the babies were either returned or rescued by police, but one girl died.

The court judgment said: “She abducted and sold several new-born infants, violating professional and social ethics.”

The case has added to public frustration with China’s medical profession over rampant bribery and other abuses.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in