Lack of trust endangers health
Excessive medical treatment has become an intensely debated problem in China. Many argue that it not only wastes limited medical resources and increases the burden on patients, but also damages the image of doctors and creates potentially dangerous conflicts between physicians and patients.
On September 13, Dr. Li Chengchang accepted an interview with the Xinhua News Agency, and said that often a patient's condition changes from time to time. When he diagnosed the baby, the child's condition may have improved a bit after the more serious diagnosis was made by the previous doctor, he said.
According to Dr. Li, the reason he chose to prescribe the enema was to further observe the development of the problem. Li revealed that he might also have suggested the surgeries if the baby was confirmed to have congenital mega-colon disease and the condition continued to deteriorate. Li said he was only an "angel" by accident, and that he might also have been regarded as untrustworthy if the case had gone the other way.
The incident has greatly affected public trust in medical workers. Last week, three sets of parents refused to let Shenzhen Children's Hospital operate on their kids, even though they had been diagnosed with severe diseases.
Among the three children, a boy nearly died after intestinal surgery was delayed by his parents. According to the vice director of the hospital's medical affairs department, the boy was confirmed to have congenital mega-colon at birth, but his parents refused to let the surgery be carried out and took the baby home without hospital approval on September 9. When the parents brought him back due to a high fever on September 11, there were already several holes in the baby's intestines.
Medical reform along with social reform
To many, this case was not surprising. The public has long been dissatisfied with the health and social care in China, and doctors and patients are likely to fall into disputes due to a lack of effective communication.
The recent stabbing of a female surgeon at Beijing Tongren Hospital by a former patient has also raised concerns over the safety of medical workers. According to reports from different sources, the incident resulted from a doctor-patient dispute.
On September 16, the Chinese Medical Doctor Association published a statement urging society to pay more respect to doctors.
In the process of the country's medical reform, the government should pay equal attention to social reform, because only when patients feel they have been treated fairly and their rights have been protected will their trust in medical workers return.
