Li Yixue has lost count of how many times she has asked the question, “Do I look like a mental patient?”
Li Yixue. Photo by: Zhang Xinyu
On April 22, 2022, Li Yixue was forcibly sent to the Jiangxi Provincial Mental Hospital by the Dinggong Road Police Station of the Xihu Branch of the Nanchang Municipal Public Security Bureau on the grounds of causing trouble. After admission, she was diagnosed with: obsessive-compulsive disorder and personality disorder, and needed to undergo two months of compulsory hospitalization.
After being discharged from the hospital, Li Yixue filed a lawsuit against the Jiangxi Provincial Mental Hospital, accusing it of medical malpractice in the entire process of admission, treatment, and care, and requested that after the court re-conducted a psychiatric forensic assessment on her, the Jiangxi Provincial Mental Hospital should promise not to admit her again in the future.
On December 6, 2022, the case was heard in the People’s Court of Qingshanhu District, Nanchang City. After two hours of trial, the court announced that it would pronounce the verdict at a later date.
Assaulted after reporting the incident to the police
In Li Yixue’s opinion, she was forcibly sent to a mental hospital because she reported a police officer named Lai from the Dinggong Road Police Station.
The story goes back to March 14, 2022. Due to a civil dispute, Li Yixue went to the Dinggong Road Police Station several times for help. Because the matter had not been resolved, on April 14, Li Yixue went to the Dinggong Road Police Station again. “That day happened to be Lai’s shift, and he took the initiative to strike up a conversation with me. I didn’t know him before that.”
The next afternoon, Li Yixue received a call from Lai’s private phone number. “He said he wanted to talk to me about the case. I didn’t think too much at the time, so I agreed.”
Li Yixue said that because of the pandemic, she was staying at a hotel near her home. She originally wanted to meet with Lai in the hotel lobby, but Lai asked to meet in the room on the grounds that “there are too many people, and it’s not convenient to talk.” Out of trust in his profession, Li Yixue agreed to Lai’s request.
According to Li Yixue’s recollection, Lai, who was wearing plain clothes, first spent more than ten minutes talking to her about the case after entering the room, and then changed the subject and said, “If you were my girlfriend, I could solve this matter for you, and you wouldn’t have to go to the police station every day?” At that time, Li Yixue did not respond. “He was sitting on a stool in front of the window, and I was sitting on the bed. He suddenly rushed over and pushed me down on the bed and started to touch me and kiss me.” After calling for help to no avail, Li Yixue said she wanted to call the police, and Lai stopped the assault after hearing this.
“I took out my phone to call the police, but he snatched my phone away. I wanted to go out, but he blocked the door and wouldn’t let me leave.” Li Yixue said that Lai then knelt in front of her and slapped her. “He said he liked me very much when he saw me at the police station, and he also said how difficult he was, that he had depression, etc., and started to play the victim, asking me to let him go.”
After a night of stalemate, Li Yixue admitted: “I felt a little soft-hearted, so I didn’t choose to call the police immediately.”
According to the chat records provided by Li Yixue, after the incident, Lai offered to compensate her with money and said, “I know what fear is.”
Li Yixue said Lai confessed to her
Reported the assault and was forcibly sent to a mental hospital
Li Yixue said that since the incident, she has been unable to sleep every night. On the evening of April 21, because of insomnia, Li Yixue went out for a walk. “I walked to a shopping mall, where there was a railing about three stories high. I was standing there, and the wind was blowing. The security guard spoke to me, but I didn’t pay attention to him. He thought I was going to jump off the building, so he called the police.”
What Li Yixue didn’t expect was that the Dinggong Road Police Station was the one that received the call. According to Li Yixue’s recollection, a police car arrived at the scene not long after. “Four police officers came down, and one of them knew me and asked me to go downstairs, but I didn’t go down. Later, another police car came, and there were more and more people, so I didn’t want to go down anymore.”
In an interview with the New Yellow River reporter, Li Yixue repeatedly emphasized that she didn’t even think about jumping off the building at the time, she just wanted to get some fresh air. “Would I choose the third floor to jump?”
“I was deadlocked with them for a long time, and they kept persuading me, but I didn’t even think about jumping off the building. In the end, I don’t know why, but I told them about Lai’s assault on me.” Li Yixue said that the first reaction of the police officers on the scene was to turn off the law enforcement recorder and send the security guard away. Then, Li Yixue was pulled down from the building and taken to the Dinggong Road Police Station. After a short stay in the police car, Li Yixue was sent to the Jiangxi Provincial Mental Hospital on Shangfang Road, Qingshanhu District by four police officers.
“Four police officers, two in the front, and I was in the middle in the back, with one on each side.” After arriving at the mental hospital, one of the police officers told Li Yixue that it was just a checkup, and she would go back after the checkup. “I didn’t expect him to directly handle the admission procedures for me.”
After admission, a doctor asked Li Yixue two questions: “Do you often feel unhappy? Do you often get entangled in some things?” Li Yixue said that she answered that she sometimes felt unhappy and sometimes got entangled in some things, which led to insomnia. Then, Li Yixue had her blood drawn and was sent to the ward. “They didn’t get my family’s consent, and they didn’t do any assessments on me. They just asked me two questions and directly locked me in the ward. I wanted to leave, but the two police officers kept blocking me.” Because she was crying and making a fuss, Li Yixue was tied to the bed with restraints until dawn.
The next day, Li Yixue’s attending physician told her that she had now entered a two-month compulsory medical stage, “My family can’t take me away either.”
“How to prove that you are not mentally ill”
In order to prove that she was not mentally ill, Li Yixue repeatedly explained to her attending physician that she was sent in because she reported the police officer’s assault, and that she was not sick. The reply she received every time was, “Everyone here says they are not sick.”
Li Yixue said that she suffered inhumane treatment in the Jiangxi Provincial Mental Hospital. “I have to take medication for mental illness every day. If I don’t take it, I will be forced to take it. The most serious time, I refused to take the medicine and was tied to the bed with restraints for several days, and I was forced to take the medicine every day. After taking those medicines, I would become sleepy and have convulsions in my hands and feet.”
According to Li Yixue’s recollection, in late May, she fainted several times in the ward, and then she had the idea of committing suicide. The attending physician therefore wanted to use “electroconvulsive therapy” on her, but because electroconvulsive therapy requires general anesthesia and requires the family’s signature, “My father refused.”
Li Yixue said that this is the mark left after being restrained in the mental hospital
On June 17, Li Yixue was discharged from the hospital by her father. After being discharged from the hospital, Li Yixue learned from her father that on the day she was admitted to the hospital, her attending physician and the Dinggong Road Police Station had called him one after another, “saying that I was forcibly treated because I was making trouble. I can confirm that my father never signed any documents agreeing to my admission.”
After being discharged from the hospital, Li Yixue began her reporting journey. According to her description, she has called the complaint hotline of the public security organs many times, but to no avail. Since August, she began to post her experience on public social platforms, which immediately attracted public attention.
On August 10, the Supervision Brigade of the Xihu Branch of the Nanchang Municipal Public Security Bureau took the initiative to contact Li Yixue to understand the situation. Subsequently, Lai was suspended for investigation and voluntarily resigned in September.
A staff member of the Xihu Branch of the Nanchang Municipal Public Security Bureau said in an interview with the New Yellow River reporter that the police officer involved was under too much mental pressure due to this incident and had symptoms of depression. After discussing with his family, he had voluntarily resigned. The case is currently under investigation by multiple departments, and there are preliminary investigation results, but it is not convenient to disclose them at this time because it involves personal privacy.
The staff member said that it was impossible to be involved in rape, and it was false news. “The police officer has also submitted relevant materials to the court and will go through legal procedures.” As for Li Yixue’s compulsory medical treatment, the staff member said that the police suspected that Li Yixue was mentally disturbed, and it was true that she was sent to the hospital for examination. “Involved in multiple suicides, we sent her to the hospital for examination. After the doctor’s consultation, there was indeed a mental abnormality, so she was kept at the time.” The staff member emphasized, “I think it was not a problem for the police station to send her to the mental hospital. We were legal and compliant. We sent her to the mental hospital for examination. After examination, the mental hospital believed that she did have mental problems and admitted her. There was no problem, and the materials were all complete.”
Post-discharge rights protection
But in Li Yixue’s view, compared to Lai, the actions of the police officers who forcibly sent her to the mental hospital and the Jiangxi Provincial Mental Hospital that admitted her were even more malicious.
After being discharged from the hospital, Li Yixue had herself re-examined in the psychiatric department of a top-tier hospital in Nanchang and another psychiatric specialist hospital. According to the assessment results she provided, “no symptoms of depression” and “no symptoms of anxiety.” Li Yixue said that she originally planned to go to all the hospitals in Nanchang. “It’s strange that people come to do this kind of examination when they are not sick. What are you doing here? They are all sick to be treated.”
Li Yixue’s examination in other hospitals after being discharged from the hospital
On July 20, Li Yixue filed a lawsuit against the Jiangxi Provincial Mental Hospital, accusing it of medical malpractice in the entire process of admission, treatment, and care, and requested that after the court re-conducted a psychiatric forensic assessment on her, the Jiangxi Provincial Mental Hospital should promise not to admit her again in the future. On December 6, the case was heard in the People’s Court of Qingshanhu District, Nanchang City. After two hours of trial, the court announced that it would pronounce the verdict at a later date.
On the eve of the hearing, Li Yixue’s grandfather strongly requested to provide her with a “mental state certificate.” According to his description, Li Yixue was raised by him and Li Yixue’s grandmother since she was a child. “She had good grades when she was studying, and she had no bad habits. She was just introverted and not good at socializing, and she didn’t have many friends. But she would come back to spend time with us every weekend, and she was the one who spent the most time with us among the grandchildren.” Regarding Li Yixue’s experience of being admitted to the mental hospital, he said, “I was very shocked and angry. My granddaughter is definitely not mentally ill.”
The defense statement shows that the Jiangxi Provincial Mental Hospital stated that on April 22, 2022, Li Yixue was forcibly brought into the hospital by the police officers of the Dinggong Road Police Station of Nanchang City due to causing trouble. After the outpatient physician’s assessment, she was admitted to the hospital on the same day according to the procedure for causing trouble. The diagnosis after admission was: obsessive-compulsive disorder; personality disorder. She received compulsory hospitalization from April 22, 2022 to June 17, 2022, and was discharged on June 17, 2022 with the knowledge and consent of the police officers by Li Yixue’s father.
In response to Li Yixue’s accusations, the reporter called the phone number of her attending physician at the mental hospital, and the other party said that he was not available for an interview. “Don’t be led by the rhythm, if you have anything, go to our hospital.” Then he hung up the phone.
Subsequently, the reporter called the Jiangxi Provincial Mental Hospital several times over the next few days, but no one answered.
“I am not a mental patient”
“I chose to sue the mental hospital first because I want to prove that I am a normal person by winning the lawsuit against the mental hospital, and then I can continue to sue the police station, otherwise others will use me as a mental patient to talk about it.” Li Yixue said that her lawsuit against the Jiangxi Provincial Mental Hospital is the first step in her rights protection.
From the moment she learned that she had to be hospitalized, Li Yixue began to prove herself, “I am not a mental patient.”
Li Yixue’s grandfather told China News Weekly that after Li Yixue was hospitalized for treatment, her father had tried to bring his daughter back many times, but the hospital refused. “Don’t even mention bringing her back, they wouldn’t even allow us to see her.”
Later, Li Yixue gradually accepted the fact that she was hospitalized in the mental hospital. She would get up at 6 a.m. every day, eat breakfast at 7 a.m., eat lunch at 10:30 a.m., and eat dinner at 4:30 p.m. The rest of the time, she would be in the activity room with about 60 other patients. In the activity room, some people would walk in circles, some would sit silently, and many others would chat and exchange why they were admitted to the hospital.
At the time of admission, the diagnosis of Li Yixue by the Jiangxi Provincial Mental Hospital was “personality disorder,” and when she was discharged, another “obsessive-compulsive disorder” was added. This was the diagnosis made by the Jiangxi Provincial Mental Hospital based on Li Yixue’s behavior in the hospital. Li Yixue said that she likes to wash her hands repeatedly, sometimes washing three times a day. But in the hospital, she could only take a bath every three to five days or even a week, which made her unbearable. For this reason, every time she took a bath, Li Yixue would wash for about 40 minutes, “so she was often scolded, and she was also considered abnormal because of this.”
In the lawsuit against the Jiangxi Provincial Mental Hospital, Li Yixue’s claims include confirming that the hospital had medical malpractice in the entire process of admission, treatment, and care, and re-conducting a forensic assessment to prove that she is mentally healthy, and requesting the Jiangxi Provincial Mental Hospital to promise not to admit her again in the future.
The process of Li Yixue applying for a psychiatric forensic assessment was not smooth. Li Yixue said that there are only three institutions in Nanchang that can conduct this type of psychiatric forensic assessment, one of which is the Jiangxi Provincial Mental Hospital, and the other two are the Jiangxi Qiushi Judicial Appraisal Center and the Jiangxi Shenzhou Judicial Appraisal Center. They respectively rejected Li Yixue’s application on the grounds of “only accepting mental assessments for those who have suffered severe head trauma” and “insufficient materials submitted.”
On November 27, 2022, Li Yixue went to a top-tier hospital for an assessment. According to the face-to-face consultation, brain CT, and some scales, the hospital gave a reference diagnosis of “no symptoms of depression, no symptoms of anxiety.” Li Yixue submitted it to the court as evidence. Li Yixue said that if she wants to conduct a psychiatric forensic assessment in the future, she will not do it in Jiangxi Province, but will choose cities such as Beijing and Shanghai.
For Li Yixue, there is a piece of news that gives her hope: there was once a person who tried to remove the label of schizophrenia and won the lawsuit against the Jiangxi Provincial Mental Hospital.
Wan Yousheng, a man from Nanchang, was forcibly sent to the Jiangxi Provincial Mental Hospital by others on December 7, 2008, and left the hospital the next day at the strong request of his mother and others. In the discharge summary, the hospital diagnosed Wan Yousheng with “schizophrenia.” Wan Yousheng later sued the Jiangxi Provincial Mental Hospital.
After the case went through the first instance, retrial, and second instance, the Nanchang Intermediate People’s Court ruled that the Jiangxi Provincial Mental Hospital did not comply with the regulations when admitting Wan Yousheng to the hospital, but did not determine whether the diagnosis of “schizophrenia” was compliant. Wan Yousheng filed an appeal. On August 2, 2018, the Jiangxi Provincial High Court ruled that the Jiangxi Provincial Mental Hospital, without conducting the necessary examinations on Wan Yousheng and without any treatment, diagnosed him with schizophrenia in the discharge summary, which “clearly lacked basis and did not comply with the diagnostic and treatment standards.”
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