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A-bian falls down
again, team says
DETERIORATING HEALTH: The former president’s
medical team said that he was in good spirits after the incident, which was the
fourth since he was put in jail
By Lee Hsin-fang and Jake Chung / Staff reporter, with Staff
writer
Former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) collapsed for the fourth time since being
incarcerated, prompting concerns over his deteriorating health, Chen’s
all-volunteer medical group said yesterday
Kuo Cheng-deng (郭正典), one of the doctors in the group, said Chen had been about
to answer a call of nature at about 7:30pm when — as happened in the previous
incidents — he lost his balance and fell onto a sofa close to his bed, hitting
his head on a cell wall in the process.
Chen’s aides helped him up and brought him to the bed to rest, Kuo said, adding
that the former president lost the urge to visit the restroom for several hours
after the fall.
Kuo said that Chen told him it had not been so much a serious fall as a stumble,
but that he had felt sick and experienced a tightness in his chest, though he
had not fainted.
Kuo added that Chen’s daughter, Chen Hsing-yu (陳幸妤), and her husband, Chao
Chien-ming (趙建銘), had visited A-bian on Sunday.
During the visit, Chao, a doctor, diagnosed the former president with a fracture
in the last vertebra of his coccyx, strain injuries in the muscles near both of
his shoulder joints and contusions below his left knee, which were sustained in
his third fall on Feb. 28.
Chen Shui-bian first fell down in prison on Jan. 13, injuring some muscles in
his right shoulder.
Chao has a degree in orthopedic surgery and did his residency at National Taiwan
University Hospital from 1998 to 2003.
Kuo said that Chao planned to visit the former president again on Sunday to try
and ameliorate his physical pain.
Kuo said that despite the injuries, Chen Shui-bian remained in good spirits,
cracking jokes as he watched the World Baseball Classic match between Taiwan and
Cuba — which the home team lost 0-14 — saying that 014 represented former
Executive Yuan secretary-general Lin Yi-shih (林益世) so it was no wonder Taiwan
had lost.
Lin, who was secretary-general under President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九), is charged
with taking NT$63 million (US$2.11 million) in bribes from Ti Yung Co owner Chen
Chi-hsiang (陳啟祥) to help the latter’s company secure a slag treatment contract
from a China Steel Corp subsidiary in July last year.
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