A life-saving act that should have been praised has now turned into a nationwide controversy in China after a man who performed CPR on a woman was accused of “inappropriate touching” during the rescue.
The incident took place on July 12 in a busy area of Hengyang, Hunan Province, where a woman suddenly collapsed and lost consciousness. Her face and hands turned pale, and she had no pulse.
CPR was performed for nearly 10 minutes
A nearby female doctor immediately began performing CPR, but after growing tired, she called out to the crowd for help.
That’s when a man, later identified as Mr. Pan, stepped forward and took over the chest compressions, continuing the CPR efforts for almost 10 minutes until the woman finally regained her breathing and was rushed to the hospital.
Despite his heroic act, the situation took a troubling turn when footage of the rescue surfaced online.
Some netizens accused Pan of inappropriately touching the woman, questioning his hand placement and even suggesting that a woman should’ve taken over instead. The discussion has stirred up differing opinions, with many accusing him of groping.
Why didn’t a female continue the CPR instead of a man?”— one comment read, implying that gender should have taken precedence over immediate medical help.
“Clearly had groping intentions.”
The man behind the CPR speaks out
On July 14, Chinese outlet Jiupai News contacted the man in the video, 42-year-old Mr. Pan, a medical lecturer at the Hunan Environmental Biology Technical College.
He defended his actions, stating that his technique followed proper medical protocol and that his hands were positioned over the sternum, as taught in professional CPR training.
He added that on-site medical staff who later arrived did not correct or question his technique, which to him, further validated that he did nothing wrong.
I was very cautious. My hands were placed on the chest bone,” he said. “If there was anything wrong, the medical professionals would’ve corrected me—but they didn’t.”
What started out as an act of public service has now left Pan emotionally distressed.
“I only did a small thing, yet it caused such a huge storm online. If I had known it would come to this, I might not have stepped in to help at all. It’s truly disheartening.”
