The woman was partially paralyzed from a condition called hemiplegia. After spending some time at one local hospital, she was reportedly scheduled to be transferred to another hospital to receive further treatment.
The patient was obliged to journey to a branch of the Agricultural Branch of China in the city of Zhuzhou to withdraw about $7,000 in cash to pay for her treatment at the new hospital. Her family dutifully placed her in a wheelchair and brought her to the bank.
This was necessary because the Agricultural Bank of China, like many other Chinese financial institutions, requires customers to appear in person and use facial recognition software to make withdrawals.
Several other heartbreaking cases of sick and elderly people forced to leave their beds to make bank runs have generated outrage on Chinese social media, but this one was especially infuriating because the woman was so sick that she could not perform the head movements needed to satisfy the facial recognition software.
Incredibly, the woman and her family spent almost 90 minutes attempting to get the withdrawal machine outside the bank to recognize her face before she collapsed and died on the spot. An emergency medical team was summoned, but was unable to revive her.
According to the woman’s nephew, the family approached the bank with all necessary identification documents and asked for a speedy withdrawal assisted by tellers, due to the woman’s poor health. The bank staff refused and insisted they use the facial recognition system.
The bank reportedly released the funds requested by the woman several hours after her death.
Radio Free Asia (RFA) on Thursday quoted some of the outraged responses from social media users:
“Sometimes the bank’s requirements are too harsh… Can’t we provide door-to-door service in special circumstances?” asked one netizen.
“When formulating rules, shouldn’t all industries consider the needs of special groups and show more humane care? Don’t let the ‘system’ become an excuse to hurt others,” wrote one netizen named Snowstorm.
“The real issue is that the financial regulatory agency lacks detailed regulations… (and) prioritizes bank security,” Pang Jiulin, an attorney working at a law firm in Beijing, said on Weibo.
Many commentators were astounded that China’s banks have not developed a system for helping patients access their funds without leaving the hospital, especially since there have been previous scandals over people in very poor health struggling to withdraw money from their banks.
Both the bank and local police officials told RFA they were investigating the incident. The Agricultural Bank of China promised to cooperate fully with police. The police said they could release few details, beyond confirming the woman’s death, while their investigation was in progress.
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