What was supposed to be a routine procedure to repair torn ligaments in Hao Chan’s ankles turned into a five-year medical malpractice battle with a corrupt judicial system.
Hao, a triathlete, tore the lateral side ligaments in both his ankles while in training. A commerce student at the University of Calgary, 35-year-old Hao returned to China where he sought care at one of the country’s top orthopedic centers, No. 6 Peoples Hospital in Shanghai.
Damaged ligaments represent one of the most common sports-related injuries, and repairing them is considered a fairly straightforward procedure.
But in Hao’s first — and what should have been his only — operation, the surgeon seemingly mistook inversion for eversion on the operating sheet and ended up performing a surgery that left Hao’s ankles in a markedly worse state than before the operation.
“[The surgeon] never told me the truth,” says Hao from his home in Calgary. “Exactly why he made the mistake is still unknown to me or anyone else other than himself. On different occasions, he told me different stories about what happened.”
This stonewalling was just the beginning of Hao’s ordeal with China’s medical and court systems. Five years and eight surgeries later, including one in which an incision was made in the wrong leg, Hao says he’s “on the verge of losing hope of ever getting even a basic, decent justice.”
After the initial botched surgery, a medical hearing was held to determine if there was any wrongdoing on the part of the hospital. It was found that medical negligence had indeed occurred and that this had led to the subsequent surgeries.
But the hospital appealed and a second hearing was held while Hao was back in Canada writing his exams. In a paradoxical twist, this hearing concluded that medical malpractice had occurred but the hospital was not responsible.
“All the while, the panel practically ignored categorically the evidences I pointed out in the medical record about the initial mistake and its consequences,” Hao says.
According to Dr. Yuan Hong, a former cardiac surgeon at the First Affiliated Hospital of China Medical University in Shenyang, experiences such as Hao’s are not an uncommon occurrence in China’s medical institutions.
“When malpractice occurs in China, the hospital will shift responsibility and internally speak with one voice,” Dr. Hong says.
“Usually if the victims and their relatives go to legal procedures, they won’t win the case as they don’t really know the specific situation of the malpractice. The hospital doesn’t tell the truth. Generally speaking, malpractice won’t be resolved according to the law. The reason both sides don’t rely on law to resolve the issue is that the law itself never can be justice.”
Bribery is also a factor, says Dr. Hong. China’s courts and hospitals are all state-owned, and if a case goes to court hospital staff will “use different kinds of relationships” to influence court officials by bribing them with money, meals or gifts.
“In China there is a saying: ‘Bureaucrats shield one another.’ If malpractice happened, and the case went to court, definitely the hospital will find ways to affect the court’s decision. At the same time, patients and their relatives will try their best to bribe the judge as well. If you don’t bribe the judge, you will definitely lose.”
Hao filed suit against the hospital in May 2007. Despite the two previous rulings from the medical hearings and the fact that they had the complete medical records of his surgeries, the judge concluded that Hao lacked evidence and found in favour of the hospital
The case was kicked back to the district court and Hao was awarded a mere $1,000. He was recently denied an application to bring his case before the appeals court.
Disputes over dubious treatment and questionable charges have become increasingly common in China’s medical institutions in recent years.
Without government funding, hospitals have to be creative in finding ways to generate income, leading to over prescribing of drugs and the scheduling of unnecessary treatments, procedures and surgeries.
Poor regulation has led to widespread corruption within the medical system, including overcharging, shoddy treatment and use of fake medicines.
This has resulted in anger and resentment among dissatisfied patients, and instances of violence against medical staff have been escalating. According to the China Daily, 5,500 medical workers were injured in assaults and protests in 2006, causing more than 200m yuan ($26m) damage.
In May 2007 China announced plans to post police in hospital wards and outpatient clinics to protect medical and administrative staff from disgruntled patients and their relatives. Staff at Shanxia hospital in Shenzhen, Guangdong province, began wearing hard hats at work after being shoved and spat at by relatives seeking compensation for a patient’s death.
For China’s millions of peasants, the most rudimentary care by “barefoot doctors” is all they can afford. However, many of these practitioners use products from China’s thriving black market in used syringes, needles, solution bags and other medical supplies. This has led to the rampant spread of Hepatitis B among rural children.
Hao said a “smear campaign” was conducted against him while he was going through his many surgeries at the hospital, and the head officer who dealt with patient disputes regularly called him a “scumbag” and other names behind his back.
But he did get one lucky break. The hospital stopped charging him anything after the second surgery and offered him a refund for monies already paid. He refused, however, saying he wanted an explanation instead. None was forthcoming.
While he feels sure the initial botched surgery was not intentional, Hao said what he finds “shameful” were the inadequacies of the medical hearings and the court system which were supposed to address his grievances.
“Rather than doing their job independently and competently, you see blatant collusion between government agencies, and massive incompetency…. At one stroke, they deliver an insult to both your intelligence and your dignity.”
Hao Chan is an alias. Hao did not want his real name used because, he said, “it is not entirely impossible my name could be blacklisted for this, and China is still home to my parents and two siblings.”
