Market credo tarnishes healing arts as profit comes before people
- By Wan Lixin
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Shanghai Daily, December 9, 2011
![Protective measures [By Jiao Haiyang/China.org.cn]](http://images.china.cn/attachement/jpg/site1007/20111209/001372acd0b5104bbe3b08.jpg "Protective measures [By Jiao Haiyang/China.org.cn]") |
| Protective measures [By Jiao Haiyang/China.org.cn] |
The sharp rise in medical disputes in recent years and subsequent media interpretations of these events have significantly tarnished the image of the healing profession.
Doctors in China were once known as "angels in white" and for many people becoming a physician still is a dream come true - helping people in a demanding and respectable profession.
One of the greatest physicians, the Taoist Sun Simiao (AD 581-682), once said, "A great physician, in dealing with illness, should first settle in a peaceful state of mind, be free of any desires and full of charity, bestowing help to those in need, as if they are next of kin, irrespective of their status, appearances, nationality ..."
American bioethics scholar Edmund Pellegrino also observed, "Medicine is the most scientific of the humanities and the most humane of sciences," bridging the physical state of the human being with his own psychological and spiritual state.
But the dramatic increase in the number of incidents of patient-physician hostilities in China suggests these idealistic observations are becoming obsolete.
As an increasing number of doctors become targets of assaults by disgruntled patients, their relatives, or hired thugs, practicing medicine has become a risky job.
The following cases are just a random sampling of recent occurrences.
On December 5 in the No. 1 People's Hospital in Zhangjiagang, Jiangsu Province, more than 1,000 people gathered to mourn a five-year-old child who had died at the hospital while receiving treatment. Scuffles ensued.
On September 15, Dr Xu Wen, director of the ENT (Eye, Nose, and Throat) Department of Beijing Tongren Hospital and a recipient of numerous awards, was stabbed 17 times by a patient she had treated for cancer.
Later some of Xu's colleagues launched a strike in protest against the brutal attack.
Four days before the attack on Xu, in Beijing Dr Mu Xinlin was attacked by a patient's relatives and suffered neck wounds and bone fractures.
Some hospitals are fighting back. On August 23, around 100 people armed with fish spears and iron bars stormed into a hospital in Nanchang, capital of Jiangxi Province, apparently to avenge (and to extort cash compensations for) a patient who had died there while undergoing surgery.
The invaders were soon surprised by nearly 100 hospital defenders, all wearing red bands on their wrists, some armed with iron bars and wearing police helmets. The patient's horde were quickly routed.
In some areas there have emerged Mafia-like organizations for hire as mercenaries to make scenes at hospitals.
According to statistics from the Ministry of Health, reports of such violent confrontations numbered 10,248 in 2006, but soared to 17,243 in 2010.
In a recent lecture at Fudan University Medical College, philosophy professor Shen Mingxian identified the reckless pursuit of economic returns as the reason some Chinese medical practitioners betray their humanistic values.
Pursuit of profits has led some doctors to prescribe unnecessary or expensive medicine or treatment. China has been criticized by World Health Organization for its abuse of antibiotics and the high rate of caesarean births.
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