In a bizarrely cannibalistic incident to come out of China, hospital authorities have launched an investigation after medics found a mother allegedly attempting to eat her newborn baby days after giving birth, UK Mirror reported on Friday.
Li Zhenghua, who is believed to be mentally ill, was shockingly discovered with her jaws clamped firmly around the infant's arm at a hospital in the city of Shenzhen in southern China's Guangdong Province.
When a nurse tried to raise alarm and pull the baby free, Zhenghua refused to let go and continued to bite the tiny limb. Eventually, doctors were forced to use an implement to pry her off the child before administering the patient with a sedative.
"It was really shocking, the arm was badly damaged and suffered not only heavy bruising but bleeding as a result of the bite," a hospital spokesman said. "Fortunately, doctors managed to insert something to stop her closing her teeth and then levered her jaws apart."
"After that they gave her a sedative and took the baby to a secure location."
The 24-year-old, who was heavily pregnant and in labor when she was discovered on the streets, had given birth after being taken into the hospital, News.com.au reported. As attempts were being made to contact her family, she had been left alone in a ward to nurse the child.
But on the third day of her stay in the hospital, nurse Liu Tianlun had walked into the patient's room to find the young mother biting her son on the arm.
Later, police inquiries found that her mother-in-law had thrown a pregnant Zhenghua out on the street after she started behaving oddly. For several weeks, the 24-year-old had survived on the streets before someone alerted authorities about a pregnant woman being in labor.
Currently, an investigation is underway to decide what prompted the woman's actions and whether the child should be taken into the care of the authorities. Her husband's family has allegedly stated that they don't want anything to do with Zhenghua or the child.
