Fear of being turned social outcasts, coupled with distrust and poverty served an untimely death sentence for this unfortunate Chinese woman and her unborn child. Pneumonia choked the life out of her body, even as the father out of fear refused to sign a release form permitting an emergency cesarean. He was afraid to let them cut her and force on him an expensive operation bill. About five hours after coming to the hospital, both mother and child were dead. This is the tragedy of Li Liyun, a 22-year-old migrant worker who could not afford good medicinal treatment.

Should the hospital have treated the woman even without the release form? Though he was the father of the unborn child, Xiao was not legally married to Li Liyun. So then, was saving life more important or getting a release form sighed? Xiao’s mind was in a blur, He Weishan, another to be father at the hospital, offered him monetary help but he was not thinking straight. He was adamant in his belief that his wife was not ready for labor. All thanks to advice he had received from a street vendor, who told Xiao that his baby wasn’t due until the end of December while another fortune teller predicted an untimely end for Li and the child.

Xiao had saved Li Liyun from suicide before and they had fallen in love but superstition and poverty brought doom to them. AS per Chinese law the couple had to return to their home province to get official permission to get married. They didn’t have money for the trip, nor were they sure of heir parents acceptance of the union. As they tried to find work in a heartless city, they were shuttled from job to job.

Life and death crisis is coming of age in one of the fastest growing economies in the world. An economic growth with a huge price to pay, resulting in the lack of sufficient social services for the increasing number of poor people. As climate change resultant floods makes agriculture difficult, more and more farmers migrate to the city. Resultant is a growing population of the underclass, living impoverished, hopeless lives in the city.

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Via: LAT