Death in Pailin: Finally the court is looking into the case

28 April 2009
By Ung Chansophea
Cambodge Soir Hebdo
Translated from French by Luc Sâr
Click here to read the article in French

The Battambang deputy prosecutor summoned hospital staffs who left a pregnant woman to die on 15 March 2009 because she did not have the money to pay for the care.

Six Pailin hospital staffs are summoned on 19 May to present themselves to the Battambang tribunal in a case involving Van Yoeun.
Ang Neang, the deputy director of the Pailin hospital, who was on duty during the death, is among those who are summoned.

In the evening of 15 March, Mith Saron, a man who lost his right foot, drove Van Yoeun, his pregnant wife to the hospital because she suffered intense pain. Because he did not have the 100,000 riels ($25) that was requested from him, Mith Saron suffered the following sarcasm from the hospital staff: “How do you dare come to the hospital?”

Due to lack of medical care, Van Yoeun died at 5AM on that day.

While her husband did not want to bring this case to court, Koy Kanya, the Battambang deputy prosecutor, looked into the case and he sent out summons without giving any detail in the case involved.

“It must be about that pregnant woman,” said Chhorn Makara, the Adhoc NGO coordinator in Pailin. “Following the death of the patient, the police questioned the hospital staff and they had an order signed by Koy Kanya. If there was any consequence in this affair, it is normal that he [the prosecutor] looks into this case. He told me personally that it was a flagrante delicto case.”