‘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a final verdict that Li Jianxue, an obstetrician, was innocent, and a previous decision made by another court was withdrawn.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.
When Li and Wang noticed that Chen’s blood test showed some abnormalities, they took steps to stop the bleeding. But Chen’s situation deteriorated and she died hours later.
Three doctors, Wu, Wang and Li, were transferred to local prosecutors by the police in September 2013, but only Li was prosecuted the following year.
The People’s Court of Cangshan District of Fuzhou decided in 2017 that Li had committed a medical accident crime, which covers circumstances such as leaving posts, refusing to save patients, using illegal medicines and medical equipment, violating other regulations and other seriously irresponsible behaviour.
01:47
Overworked Chinese doctor collapses from exhaustion
Li should take responsibility because she made a wrong diagnosis which was caused by her irresponsibility at work, the photocopy of the verdict circulated online showed. Li had also failed to do anything to prevent a post-partum haemorrhage, the court said.
Li appealed and in June last year her case was reviewed by the Intermediate People’s Court of Fuzhou, which gave its verdict this month.
The second court said the judgment of the first court had been wrong; instead, it said, Li’s diagnosis and treatment for Chen were in line with medical protocols and she did not perform in a “seriously irresponsible” way. Therefore her case did not constitute a medical accident crime, the court said.
The case caused consternation among doctors in mainland China in 2012, with the Chinese Medical Doctor Association (CMDA) voicing concern and showing support for Li.
Doctors urged to test suspected Covid-19 patients to avoid legal issues
Many doctors were worried that, according to the first verdict’s logic, any of them could potentially be sued for deaths of their patients.
“We [doctors] are all Li Jianxue and we could all be defendants,” John Wu, a Guangdong-based doctor and a medical columnist, told the South China Morning Post.
Li’s lawsuit was caused by wrongdoings in law enforcement and society’s superficial perceptions of medicine, he said.
“We can do nothing. We just express our unhappiness as we have been saddened for a long time,” Wu said. “We hope those who made the wrong verdict find their conscience and won’t put any innocent doctors in jail in future.”
03:27
Public mourning in China after death of coronavirus whistle-blower doctor Li Wenliang
At the time, the Fujian Medical Association assessed Chen’s death as a grade-one medical accident – the most serious kind, involving a patient’s death – and suggested the hospital should take responsibility.
Fourteen medical staff from the hospital, including Li, were punished, according to The Paper’s report.
The hospital paid 1.5 million yuan (US$212,000) to Chen’s family in 2015. The same year, the CMDA’s obstetrician branch held a symposium in Fuzhou to discuss Li’s case before passing the experts’ views to the local court.
“In Li’s case, we have not seen any element that constitutes a medical accident crime,” the association said in a statement that year. “We call for doctors’ right to practise their profession to be respected.”
Fifth doctor from Wuhan hospital dies from Covid-19 after long battle
Li could not be reached by phone this week. In an interview with the Red Star News app in 2017, she said: “I might not be experienced and might have limited medical knowledge. But I have tried my best. I have not committed a crime.”
In a statement released on the CMDA’s website after she was pronounced innocent, Li said she could finally return to normal work and life. She said she was thankful for “judicial justice, openness and fairness”.
The incident happened against a backdrop of a strained relationship between medical professionals and the mainland Chinese public over the past two decades.
“I think the court must have taken this into consideration,” he said, requesting anonymity because he was not authorised to talk to the media.
