Nurse intern slammed for mishandling babies

HANGZHOU - A medical student with an internship at an east China hospital's pediatric department has garnered public criticism after posting photos online of herself mishandling newborns.

Xiao Shiyu, a senior majoring in nursing at Zhejiang Chinese Medical University, was ordered to end her internship at a local hospital and think about her actions, said a statement issued late Sunday by the university based in east China's Zhejiang province.

In the statement, the university also apologized for its student causing "undesirable social impact."

"During her internship, the student (Xiao) photographed newborn babies with a mobile phone, uploaded these photos online and made immoral comments, which violated newborn nursing regulations and went against professional ethnics," said the statement on the university's website.

In the photos posted on her Sina Weibo account, Xiao held sleeping babies upright as if they were dead, or stuck paper pig noses and ears on their faces.

In one microblog post, she wrote that she deserved to toy with these babies because taking care of them was tiring.

These photos went viral from June 2, with netizens criticizing her actions.

Xiao deleted the photos on June 2 and used her microblog to apologize to the parents of the babies as well as the public.

Zhang Qiang, a doctor with the Shanghai-based East Hospital Affiliated to Tongji University, urged hospitals to forbid interns from having access to newborns, who have fragile immune systems.

"It may take their lives," said Zhang.