Private hospital in China suspends operations after allegation it tricked a minor into having unnecessary cervical surgery
- The girl’s parents claim she was tricked into having surgery to remove cervical polyps
- The hospital was also suspended because the surgery took place without a guardian’s consent or presence
A private hospital in northern China was told to suspend its business following an allegation that a 17-year-old girl was tricked into having cervical surgery and coerced to write an IOU for the bill.
Xingan Hospital in Ankang, Shaanxi, central China, was found to have substandard management after it carried out the surgery on a minor without the presence and the signature of her guardian, the local government said on Thursday.
Public backlash was triggered after the parents of the girl, surnamed Lu, wrote on Weibo that their daughter was cheated by the hospital to have “fake” surgery to remove cervical polyps. The parents said the girl did not have that problem at all.
According to the parents’ post, the girl was feeling unwell and made an inquiry on the hospital’s website and was told to go to the hospital for a check-up.
Earlier this week Lu went to the hospital where a doctor surnamed Cao told her to take an ultrasound examination before ushering her into an operating room.
The girl didn’t realise she was having a surgery, thinking this was still part of a routine examination, until after the operation had begun, Cao then told her to sign a letter of consent for the surgery and for medical costs.
When Lu said she wanted to leave the operating table and call her parents, Cao stopped her from doing that, saying she can’t leave the operating table. Otherwise, Cao said, the girl risked dying from blood loss.
After Lu handed over all the money she had with her, 1,200 yuan (US$186), to pay for the surgery, Cao said it was not enough. She told the girl to call her classmates to borrow money. After several classmates of Lu refused her request for money, Cao asked her to use an online lending platform and to sign a debit note.
It was one of Lu’s classmates who informed her mother that she might have been kidnapped since she was trying to borrow a large amount of money and sounded fearful during the phone conversation.
The surgery ended when Lu’s mother arrived at the hospital.
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It is not clear whether Lu’s cervical polyps were removed. The total cost of the surgery was not released.
The next day Lu’s parents took her to have a physical check-up at another hospital, with the result showing that she was in perfect health and had not required any surgery, they said on Weibo.
However, the government said the parents’ claim of the fake surgery was groundless because the second hospital checked a different organ from the one checked at Xingan Hospital.
As a punishment for Xingan Hospital, the government ordered its director to resign and banned Cao from practising medicine.
The cervical polyps removal operation normally costs a few hundred yuan at public hospitals in China.
Private hospitals across the country have a notorious reputation for charging exorbitant fees.
In 2019, 25 employees from six private hospitals in Gansu were arrested for wilfully increasing medical costs, falsifying medical records, hiring unlicensed doctors and blackmailing patients, local police said.
