A 5-month-old baby died in a hospital amid pleas for help from his parents while his doctor played video games online in eastern China, health authorities said Friday.

An investigation showed Dr. Mao Xiaojun was playing an online version of “Go” on the night shift and did not take the parents’ pleas for help seriously, the Jiangsu province health department said in a press release.

“When efforts were being made to save the baby, the mother got on her knees in the doorway of the ear, nose and throat department and pleaded for help,” the statement said.

[...] The health department looked into the baby’s death after complaints about the doctor playing online games hit the Internet.

Hu Yongqi writes about other instances of negligence and malpractice in Chinese hospitals, for China Daily:

The incident has focused attention on negligence and malpractice in hospitals.

On Tuesday, officials at Zhongshan Ophthalmic Center at Sun Yat-sen University said that three of 10 patients who underwent procedures to correct myopia, or nearsightedness, on Oct 21 became infected because the center had used the same laser machine for experiments on animals.

Since 2002, more than 10,000 lawsuits over medical disputes have been filed in China each year. Health experts have called for medical staff to improve their skills, and for quicker healthcare reforms.

Key of China Hush translates a bulletin board system (BBS) posting account of the incident, by the baby’s father. In it, he describes in detail hospital staff and public security noncompliance:

At 5 am in the morning baby didn’t even have strength to groan, finally breathing painfully, and suddenly his breathing was weaker and weaker. My mom holding the baby and I rushed out of the room and cried out for help. My wife also called out loudly and knocked on doctors doors. Two doctors came out, one of them said baby was registered with ophthalmologist and then she turned around, closed the door and continued to sleep. My wife knocking their doors, kneeling in front of the door begged them to call the hospital’s emergency number. But the answer she got was that she is not an eye doctor but a doctor of facial features, this matter did not concern her. My wife kneeled in front of the door called for help loudly. When other patients’ family on the same floor heard us and came out, under pressures from people, she reluctantly placed a few calls. 7 to 8 minutes later emergency doctors came to rescue, but at that time Baby was not breathing anymore, finally rescue failed. Just like that, our baby left us, leaving us with deep pain and endless memory. The cause of this was just a fever with swollen eye. Just like that, heartless irresponsible doctors and nurses killed my lovely Baby step by step when he was only 5 months into his journey of life.

Translation of caption: This is the poor baby. He didn't get to enjoy life, or see much of the sun's light. And in the end, he suffered so ...

Translation of caption: This is the public security guard who beat us.

© Paulina Hartono for China Digital Times (CDT), 2009. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: hospital negligence, medical malpractice, Nanjing, online gaming
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Lin Hui, 29 when he died last year, hit his head 11 years ago against an electricity pole and picked up a slight form of epilepsy. A year later, Lin lost his sight one day while watching TV.

Then an overdose of nearly 15 times of radiation than allowed maximum during a gamma-ray operation at a hospital devastated Lin’s health and brought ten years of suffering to him and his family, who had spent more than 7 million yuan ($880,000) on medical bills, nursery care and other expenses related to the son’s treatment over the ten years.

With only a letter of apology, the hospital failed to keep their promise to help the family defray the total cost. The family has received letters of sympathy from friends over the Internet, many of whom have similar experiences with the hospital.

(...)
Read the rest of Patient of Epilepsy Died 10 years After Hospital Negligence – Health Times (320 words)

© Michael Zhao for China Digital Times (CDT), 2006. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: epilepsy, health care, hospital negligence, Shandong, Zibo
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