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MOJ denies hospital
advised parole
PRISON BLUES: The Ministry of Justice said that
Taipei Veterans General Hospital had not made any conclusions about how to treat
former president Chen Shui-bian
By Rich Chang / Staff reporter
Former vice president Annette Lu,
sitting, third right, and Greater Tainan Mayor William Lai, sitting, second
right, and Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) legislators and city councilors
from Tainan calls on the public to write the Presidential Office and demand that
former president Chen Shui-bian be given medical parole.
Photo: Liu Wan-chun, Taipei Times
The Ministry of Justice yesterday said
that Taipei Veterans General Hospital had never formally suggested that
imprisoned former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) be granted medical parole
because of his deteriorating health, saying the hospital had not offered a final
conclusion on how to treat Chen.
“Chen’s doctors suggested that Chen’s condition could be improved if he were
accompanied by his family, but this could not be interpreted as meaning that
allowing Chen to go home is the only way to improve his condition. Actually, the
hospital did not make any conclusion on how to treat Chen,” Vice Minister of
Justice Chen Ming-tang (陳明堂) told a press conference.
He said that between Sept. 21 last year and Feb. 16, the former president
received 333 visits, of which 124 were by family members.
“Prisoners in Taipei Prison are not allowed to receive visits by their family
members during Lunar New Year holidays, but Chen was able to dine with his wife,
Wu Shu-jen (吳淑珍), his son, Chen Chih-chung (陳致中), his daughter-in-law, Huang
Jui-ching (黃睿靚), and his granddaughter on New Year’s Eve,” Chen Ming-tang said.
Chen’s friends and his civilian medical team physician Kuo Cheng-deng (郭正典) also
visited him during the holidays, the official said.
Control Yuan members on Friday endorsed an investigation conducted by Control
Yuan member Huang Huang-hsiung (黃煌雄) that found that Chen Shui-bian’s illness
could be attributed to his prison environment.
It also found that the ministry and Taipei Prison did not deal appropriately
with Chen’s heath conditions and on several occasions downplayed the former
president’s health issues.
Huang showed video footage of Chen Shui-bian being asked to perform a walking
test in the presence of several physicians and a Taipei Prison official.
The footage showed that Chen Shui-bian had difficulty walking. He was unable to
walk forward when he was told to do so and kept falling down if he was not held
up. He also had difficulty walking in a straight line and struggled to walk with
his eyes closed.
The vice minister said the footage showed the former president undergoing a
neurological test “which could not represent his real health condition.”
The official reiterated that Taipei Prison had made great efforts to take care
of Chen Shui-bian’s health.
The 62-year-old former president, serving an 18-and-a-half-year prison sentence
on corruption charges, has been treated at the Taipei Veterans General Hospital
since September last year for suspected depression and other health problems.
In October last year, the former president was diagnosed with severe depression
compounded by anxiety and somatization disorder, among other ailments.
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