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East Asia
Death for SARS Spreaders: China
2003-05-15
China has threatened to execute or jail for life anyone who unknowingly deliberately spreads the killer SARS virus. The news came as officials in Taiwan announced the biggest one-day jump in SARS cases on the island amid a raft of hospital infections. China issued a harsh interpretation of its laws on contagious disease after reports people were violating quarantine orders or refusing to submit admit to the symptoms. The Supreme Court warning Thursday said people who violate quarantines and spread the virus can be imprisoned for up to seven years or until dead, China's official Xinhua news agency reported. Those who cause death or serious injury by breathing "deliberately spreading" the virus can be sentenced to prison terms of 10 years to life or might be executed. China recorded four of the eighty SARS deaths on Thursday, pushing its official death toll to 271, and 52 new admitted cases. It has about two-thirds of the world's 7,700 known SARS cases. Human rights groups said the punishment, laid down by the Supreme Court and the chief prosecutor, was not approved by China's parliament and violated human rights convenants.
Posted by:Scott

#6  In Portland some years ago, someone was convicted on .. manslaughter? might've been murder.. for deliberately infecting someone else with AIDS.
The article says that it's for violating quarantine rules. This is post-diagnosis.
Effectively, diagnosis is equivalent to the doctor saying "Some aspect of you is a deadly weapon."
The punishment is perhaps a bit harsh for assault with a deadly weapon or negligent homicide, but that is the crime being committed.

I don't care what people do as long as they're not harming others by their actions. Violating a medically prudent quarantine, though, crosses way over the line.
Posted by: Dishman   2003-05-15 18:26:11  

#5  Maybe so Chuck (no big deal), but flu doesn't have a double-digit death rate. Them ChiComs need a beating for their mishandling of this. But don't hold your breath till they get it. Some governments get a pass no matter what they do.
Posted by: Scott   2003-05-15 15:42:48  

#4  Great idea. Shoot everyone who has SARS as an enemy of the state. This should improve the reporting statistics for the WHO.

Of course, there is body of thought that suggests SARS is a bio-weapon that got loose. Regardless the source, the ChiComs don't have th health care infrastructure to deal with this. It is going to get a lot worse before it gets better.
Posted by: Douglas De Bono   2003-05-15 15:40:17  

#3  Free China: Big goof up here followed by lots of ass covering. Just as in Toronto, infected people got sent home. Many more than in Toronto, however. Then the hospital admin covered it up. Today's death rate is 44.1%, and they don't have a handle on the source of many of the new cases.

Communist China: Today's lie is a death rate of 12.7%. The most cases and the lowest death rate of any country with a major outbreak.

Glenn Reynolds quotes this about the Communist Chinese problem:

The Chinese official put it this way: "we are having a terrible time getting people to see doctors, even for routine physical checkups. And this is because of an event that took place back in the late 1940s, following Mao's revolution. At that time, the government promised to eradicate venereal disease in China. And it did. Everyone was forced to undergo an examination by a certified doctor. And anyone with venereal disease was executed. Ever since, most Chinese stayed far away from medical doctors."

I try to blog the on a regular basis, but it's really not that big a deal. Remember, flu kills about 38,000 Americans every year.
Posted by: Chuck   2003-05-15 15:05:17  

#2  Grreat.Now the diseased won't turn themselves in for fear of punishment.
Posted by: El Id   2003-05-15 14:41:05  

#1  And then, they'll imprison the corpses.
Posted by: someone   2003-05-15 14:30:09  

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