A man in China was sentenced to one year in prison after he refused to take care of his newlywed wife and severed all contact with her following her diagnosis of late-stage cancer.
According to a report by South Morning China Post (SCMP), the man was handed down his sentence by a court in eastern China’s Anhui province on a charge of abandonment. The man identified as Feng, was married to Wang in 2022. Two months later, Wang was diagnosed with intestinal cancer, which had progressed to its terminal stage.
At first, Feng cared for his wife, but after a few months, Feng began to use work as an excuse and travelled to a different city to evade responsibilities. Wang and her family made desperate attempts to get in contact with him but remained elusive, as per the report. Feng had proposed divorce twice while Wang was gravely ill.
While going through her treatment, Wang was forced to borrow money to pay her hefty hospital bills. However, after spending a little over 200 days, Wang passed away in the hospital.
Wang’s family filed a lawsuit against Feng over his failure to provide care or contribute to her medical expenses. When he was summoned by the court, Feng settled with Wang’s family and they forgave him.
The woman’s father condemned Feng’s “vicious behaviour”, and said that there were numerous failed attempts to contact him over the phone, messaging apps, and even involving the police and other authorities.
According to SCMP, Dr Cui Shuanglin from the Sun Yat-sen University Cancer Centre in Guangzhou said that a patient with late-stage intestinal cancer would likely have about three years to live, However, this is also dependent on an individual’s health conditions.
In a similar incident in southern Hunan province in 2018, a man refused to return to his hometown to care for his wife, who had been diagnosed with uremia, or to contribute to her medical expenses. After her death, he also neglected her funeral arrangements. The court later sentenced him to one year in jail, with the sentence suspended for two years.
