Recently, there have been rumors circulating on the internet that a graduate student at Dalian Medical University committed suicide by charcoal burning in her rental house due to alleged data plagiarism in her thesis which prevented her from graduating. The publicly available admission information reveals that the student in question is a 22nd-grade graduate student majoring in radiology at Dalian Medical University.
According to the student’s father, Duan Jianchuan, in an interview with Lizhi News on February 24, his daughter, Duan Jingyi, was born in 2000 and was a third-year graduate student at Dalian Medical University before her tragic death. On February 14 in the afternoon, they were informed by the school that their daughter had taken her own life in her rental apartment.
The university explained that on the morning of the incident, when Duan Jingyi’s classmates noticed her absence, they reported it to the teacher. They then found Duan Jingyi in her rented apartment, lying on the bed deceased. It was reported that “after opening the door, the charcoal basin inside was still burning.” Blood sample tests indicated a severe carbon monoxide level in Duan Jingyi’s body.
Following the police investigation, it was discovered that Duan Jingyi had purchased charcoal and a lighter online on February 13, the day before her death. Considering Duan Jingyi’s medical background, it was suggested that she was aware of the consequences of burning charcoal indoors, leading to the exclusion of criminal suspicion.
After the family shared the news of Duan Jingyi’s passing online, an informant privately messaged stating that Duan Jingyi’s supervisor, Zhang, had moved to the Sixth People’s Hospital in Shanghai, and had given the necessary data for Duan Jingyi’s graduation thesis to someone else for publication, rendering her unable to use the required data for her thesis.
Duan Jianchuan expressed that there was a mistake in the name mentioned in the online message about Duan Jingyi, but someone who knew the child correctly spelled her name. “The explanation was from someone who knew the child, which makes it more credible.” During the Chinese New Year period, he noticed during his conversations with his daughter that she was worried about graduating and finding a job. Whenever the topic of work was brought up, she would avoid the conversation, and he refrained from pressuring her further.
Duan Jianchuan revealed that as he was unable to unlock his daughter’s phone that she used before her death, he also couldn’t contact her classmates. This left him with many unanswered questions and on the brink of collapse. His 87-year-old father suffered a stroke and was hospitalized upon hearing about his granddaughter’s suicide.
According to Duan Jianchuan, the police have been involved since the day of the incident, but as of now, there is still no clear investigation outcome.
Regarding the allegations of data plagiarism by the supervisor, Dalian Medical University’s publicity department staff responded by stating that a special team has been set up to verify and handle the situation.