During this year’s Chinese New Year holiday, Ah Sen was plunged into immense grief – his wife, Ah Xuan, who had just given birth, checked into the Wanjiang Branch of the Guangdong Xinxie Yue Maternal and Infant Health Management Co., Ltd. (referred to as “Xinxie Yue Maternity Center”), the next day she left alone and tragically took her own life by jumping into a lake. Ah Sen expressed anger towards the management of the maternity center, saying, “During my wife’s departure, the floor security personnel were nowhere to be found, yet the service manual clearly states that there is a ‘strict security system’ and ‘security guards on duty 24 hours’!”
The report by Yangchengpai on February 11th revealed that the Xinxie Yue Maternity Center is located adjacent to the South China International Hotel, with a glass door leading to the hotel lobby, where an elevator ride from the lobby can take you directly to the 15th floor. Ah Xuan’s room 1526 was situated on this floor.
According to family members, on January 13th, 30-year-old Ah Xuan gave birth to a daughter at Dongguan People’s Hospital. Around 5 p.m. on January 15th, accompanied by her mother-in-law, she checked into room 1526 at the Xinxie Yue Maternity Center. Due to difficulties in breathing and low blood oxygen levels, the baby was transferred to the Guangzhou Women and Children’s Medical Center for treatment shortly after birth.
“This incident caused Ah Xuan to experience low mood and high stress after giving birth. The maternity center was well aware of Ah Xuan’s emotional and stress issues, and the family had provided sufficient warnings to the center. The maternity center should have provided psychological counseling for the mothers as agreed, but they failed to arrange any counseling,” said the family members. “On the morning of January 16th, Ah Xuan called her family, expressing significant psychological pressure. The family was very anxious, making numerous calls to the maternity center’s front desk while also going to visit, but the tragedy still occurred.”
The family members stated that at 12:30 p.m. on January 16th, Ah Xuan ran out of the maternity center wearing their clothes and a coat. During her departure, the floor security personnel were absent, and none of the staff along the way inquired or tried to stop her. “We were extremely worried when we discovered Ah Xuan was missing. We urgently called the maternity center to find her and reported it to the police. The maternity center did not provide us with video surveillance, so we couldn’t track Ah Xuan’s whereabouts. At 2:10 p.m., the police called to inform us of Ah Xuan’s phone location. By the time we found her, it was too late. She had taken a taxi to Shuilian Mountain Reservoir, over a dozen kilometers away, and left us forever.”
For more than twenty days, Ah Sen has been deeply engulfed in sorrow and longing. On February 10th, looking exhausted, he went to the Xinxie Yue Maternity Center holding a service manual and angrily confronted the staff, asking, “Why didn’t you provide the agreed psychological counseling? Why was there no psychological counseling plan? Why wasn’t the security promise fulfilled when the mother went out?”
The service manual stated: “There is a strict security system, with surveillance at the entrances 24 hours, and security guards on duty 24 hours.”
This incident has sparked widespread discussions among netizens and has become a hot topic. Many netizens questioned why a new mother would commit suicide the next morning after checking into a maternity center the previous afternoon.
“Water Toshi”: Postpartum depression is evident, the baby’s condition was not good, which was the biggest psychological pressure for the mother. If the maternity center intervened in time and provided psychological counseling, this tragedy might have been avoided. The maternity center must take responsibility.
Mr. Peng, Ah Xuan’s brother-in-law, said Ah Xuan was usually simple and had normal emotions before. “Her thoughts of self-harm were influenced by the baby’s unfavorable situation after birth. Currently, the baby is fine after treatment.”
The report mentioned that on the morning of February 10th, a security guard was stationed at an elevator station on the 15th floor of the South China International Hotel when Mr. Peng asked why there was no one on duty on the afternoon of January 16th, the guard responded, “It was shift change that day.”
The person in charge of Xinxie Yue Maternity Center stated, “Do we have any responsibility in this matter? We have never denied it. We offered a compensation plan that the other party was not satisfied with. We suggest resolving this through legal means.”
Li Zhaoming, a lawyer at Guangdong Zhang Law Firm, believed that in this incident, Xinxie Yue Maternity Center failed to fulfill its contractual obligations for psychological counseling and security, and therefore, should bear the corresponding liability for breach of contract or infringement.