‘We could all be defendants’: Chinese doctor cleared over patient’s death, but medics fear prosecution
- Li Jianxue followed medical protocol in her diagnosis and treatment of a woman who died hours after giving birth, appeal court rules
- Legal saga highlights the degree to which doctors in China can be held personally responsible for the deaths of patients
The Intermediate People’s Court of Fuzhou, in southeast Fujian province, earlier this month reached a final verdict that Li Jianxue, an obstetrician, was innocent, and a previous decision made by another court was withdrawn.
Li, 41, was arrested, put on bail four times and placed under residential surveillance over the past six years after the woman’s death in 2012, news portal The Paper reported. She also had her medical practice licence and Communist Party membership revoked.
A woman surnamed Chen had died seven hours after giving birth to a baby girl. Li was on night duty with a senior doctor surnamed Wang, when Chen had a haemorrhage after giving birth through natural delivery on the evening of December 31, 2011.
Chen had been admitted to Changle Municipal Hospital in Changle, a small city administered by Fuzhou, three days earlier and had a blood test, but the doctors on duty then, surnamed Wu and Yang, did not check the results in time and were off duty the next day.