Doctor suffers stroke and dies after working 18 hours straight
A doctor collapsed in front of her patient and died after suffering a stroke at the end of a shift reportedly lasting over 18 hours.
Respiratory illness specialist Zhao Bianxiang, 43, was found without a pulse after collapsing on December 29.
She was declared dead after 20 hours of rescue efforts.
Dr Zhao, who was deputy head of respiratory medicine at the Yuci District People’s Hospital in Jinzhong City in northwestern China, died from a subarachnoid haemorrhage, which is caused by the rupturing of an aneurysm in the brain, the facility said.
The medic was said to have been visiting a patient and her daughter when she muttered the final words "how is your mum?" before collapsing at just after 12pm.
She had started her shift the night before at 6pm and continued with her rounds without resting.
Dr Zhao is survived by two ageing parents in their 80s who were by her bedside when she was finally declared dead at 7.16am on December 30.
The overworked doctor’s colleagues described her as a "workaholic" who always put her profession before anything else.
She had admitted to her co-workers that she was "too busy" to take a break.
