Wen Yuzhang and his late wife Hu Jing.
A Shenzhen man who pulled the plug on life support for his comatose wife to let her die peacefully with dignity was sentenced to a three-year suspended sentence by a court Thursday.
Wen Yuzhang, 37, was found guilty of ending the life of Hu Jing by unplugging her life support while she lay in a coma, the Shenzhen Intermediate People s Court said.
Wen s family accepted the court verdict, saying it was a result with which Hu would be satisfied. Wen agreed to pay 1.28 million yuan (US$188,000) in compensation demanded by Hu s mother Xiao Guilian. Xiao said the compensation couldn t bring back the life of her daughter. Wen s family was initially reluctant to pay compensation before Hu s family decided to take Wen to court.
After collapsing at home, Hu was rushed to hospital Feb. 9, 2009. Seven days later, the hospital decided to insert a breathing tube in Hu s trachea to keep her alive.
On Feb. 16, Wen went to see her in hospital where he learned that Hu s condition would not improve. He cried for a while before he unplugged the life support. He prevented doctors and nurses from giving emergency treatment, insisting the patient was suffering too much, the court said.
Hu died at 4 a.m. that day and Wen was taken to a police station for questioning.
Court investigations showed Hu could not live without artificial life support.
Wen was arrested on a charge of homicide Feb. 18, 2009.
At a hearing in January, Wen said he did not want to see his wife suffer any longer and that he acted out of love and respect for her wish to give up further treatment.
Wen and Hu graduated from a law school in Hubei and were well-off with a daughter and son.
The case caused spirited debate about euthanasia in China, a global issue in which people have strong opinions about mercy killings when a person is suffering from a terminal illness or is brain dead.
