Shenzhen Hospital Fined for Ignoring 120 Dispatch Order, Leading to Fatal Delay

A Shenzhen private hospital was fined and suspended from providing pre-hospital emergency services for ignoring a 120 dispatch order and taking a critically ill patient to its own facility instead of a designated public hospital, causing a fatal delay in treatment, local authorities said yesterday.

The incident occurred shortly after midnight on August 5, 2025, when a woman surnamed Zhang experienced severe abdominal pain and her family called 120. Dispatch records showed the ambulance was instructed to take her to the People's Hospital of Longhua. Instead, staff from the Jian'an emergency station transported her to their affiliated private facility, Jian'an Hospital.

Zhang's home is 2.8 kilometers from People's Hospital of Longhua and 3.8 kilometers from Jian'an Hospital, her daughter told Hongxing News.

Medical records show Zhang was diagnosed with massive abdominal bleeding and shock within an hour of arrival. Around 8am, after Zhang's blood pressure rose, she was transferred to People's Hospital of Longhua District, nearly eight hours after the initial emergency call and to the hospital originally designated by 120 dispatch.

She was admitted about 9am in a coma and with multiple life-threatening complications. Doctors performed an emergency surgery, but she later developed disseminated intravascular coagulation and organ failure. She was pronounced dead later at 5:42pm.

In a statement posted last night, local health commission said Shenzhen Jian'an Hospital violated local emergency medical regulations by not sending the patient to the hospital specified in the dispatch order. The hospital was fined 76,000 yuan (US$11,118), and its pre-hospital emergency services will be suspended for six months starting March 18, 2026.

Zhang's family has filed a civil lawsuit and reported the case to the police, alleging delayed transfer and improper treatment. Authorities said a medical damage assessment is underway and pledged broader inspections of the city's emergency response network.