A lawyer is calling for stricter legal oversight of medical care because some hospitals are not aware that they bear responsibility for mistakes.

The lawyer, Lu Yiguang, from the Haida Law Firm, also called for stricter punishments for medical professionals whose performance has been found to have resulted in an accident and more transparent appraisals of such accidents. Lu's firm specializes in cases involving medical disputes.

"There are no clear definitions of the amount of responsibility a hospital should take after an accident," Lu said. "Say a hospital is found to have minor responsibility in a case. Who, then, should take the main responsibility? The patient himself?"

The lawyer's call came a week after the Shanghai Municipal Health Bureau reported that there had been 40 confirmed medical accidents at local hospitals in the first half of this year. Fourteen of those cases, or about 35 percent, involved maternity procedures, while 13 of the cases, or about 32 percent, involved surgical procedures.

Lu said more people are willing to challenge hospitals after such accidents. "Patients are more willing to make judgments about their treatment in these two areas (maternity and surgery)," he said. "Besides, parents tend to have very high expectations for their newborns, so even the slightest injury can easily evolve into a major medical dispute."

The Shanghai Municipal Health Bureau received 90 reports of medical accidents in the first six months this year, though the hospitals were found to be wholly or mostly responsible in 40 of the cases.

The bureau attributed the accidents to the lack of quality control at the hospitals. The bureau also found that the skills of many medical professionals lag behind public demand. "Incorrect diagnoses, surgical mistakes and improper dosages of medicines caused most of the accidents," said the report by the bureau.

In one example, a baby girl born to a German businessman and his Chinese wife was unable to lift her left arm. It was eventually found that the injury was caused by the use of forceps during labor. However, the initial report on the case cleared the hospital of any wrongdoing, so the injury was not judged the result of a medical accident.

Undeterred by the finding, the couple hired a lawyer, Tang Jianli, to look into the case. Tang discovered that the medical records had been falsified.

"Hospital staff were not aware of what a serious issue it is to falsify a medical record," Lu said. "Such conduct must be subject to strict punishment."

Lawyers advised people who had doubts about the quality of treatment they had received at a hospital to make copies of their medical records. They said the original versions of the records should be sealed in the presence of both the patient and officials from the hospital. Lu also said the appraisal process for medical accidents is lacking.

(China Daily December 4, 2006)