Untimely deaths

STORIES about young people being worked to death – literally – have been making headlines around the world. Here are some of the more high profile cases over the past two years:

Moritz Erhardt, 21

Although some reports say his death could have been caused by medication he was taking to control his epilepsy, it is hard to ignore the fact that the bank intern was said to have worked for 72 hours before his death last month. The German student was found dead in a shower cubicle in his London flat.

Pan Jie, 25

Pan’s death from acute cerebral meningitis in 2011 caused an uproar in China after her social media posts showed she had been constantly overworked. A debate ensued on whether companies are working employees so hard their health becomes secondary.

Lee Chang Tat, 29

In April 2012, the houseman was found dead in a restroom in Kajang Hospital. He had been working on call for five consecutive days and his body was found next to a syringe. It was believed he overdosed on a drug he had injected himself with to fight off fatigue.

Li Yuan, 24

Earlier in May, Li, an employee at Ogilvy & Mather China in Beijing, suffered a heart attack after working until 11pm every night for a month, and he actually yelped in pain before dropping dead.

Lauren Connelly, 23

Two weeks ago, it was reported in Scotland that Connelly, a medical doctor, crashed her car and died on the way home due to severed exhaustion. She was a few days short of her 24th birthday.