Medical blunders enrage public
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Health authorities in this Guangdong province city have launched an investigation into two recent medical atrocities and vowed to punish those found responsible.
A girl, 2, who accidently inserted two cell phones into her vagina, was refused treatment by five public hospitals without proper explanation. She was finally operated upon at a sixth hospital on Monday, 16 days after the incident.
In another case, a new mother found that her anus had been stitched up shortly after she delivered a baby in a private hospital last week. The maternity assistant said it was a minor surgery for the woman's hemorrhoids.
"Who gave her the right to do the operation? We were never informed and the doctors in charge have no idea about it either," the woman's husband, surnamed Chen, told China Daily on Wednesday.
Chen said the assistant had hinted at a delivery service tip several times, but he could offer only 100 yuan and promised to give her 1,000 yuan after the delivery.
The Shenzhen Phoenix Hospital could not be reached for comment on Wednesday, but according to a report in the Southern Metropolis Daily, the hospital's president, surnamed Zhao, praised the maternity assistant for curing the woman's hemorrhoids.
Chen said the hospital has apologized, but very casually. "We may lodge an official complaint with the hospital authorities or may even drag the hospital to court," he said.
A press official, surnamed Zhong, with the city's health supervision authority told China Daily that a probe into the two cases was under way and the results of the investigation would soon be made public.
Commenting on the 2-year-old's case, Han Chunyan, deputy director of the city's medical service supervision office, said the investigators would carefully verify the facts and uncover the truth, the Southern Metropolis Daily reported.
"If the investigations show some of our hospitals deliberately refused to treat the girl, they will definitely receive severe punishments," Han said.
According to a survey conducted by the Southern Metropolis Daily on its website, about 98 percent of the 3,029 respondents refused to believe the maternity assistant was capable of treating hemorrhoids.
"In my experience, the attitude of the maternity assistants and the doctors changes according to the amount they receive in tips," said a netizen named Jonnie.
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