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A SHENZHEN doctor offered 2,000 yuan (US$328) in a red envelope and refunded a surgical instrument fee of 12,500 yuan to a family after performing a failed surgery on the family’s baby, which raised doubts about the diagnosis the doctor made in the first place, the Southern Metropolis Daily reported.
The daughter of a local woman, surnamed Lin, was diagnosed with congenital heart diseases, including a patent arterial duct and mitral regurgitation, at Shenzhen Children’s Hospital last October, only three months after she was born.
Meng Xiangchun, chief doctor of the hospital’s cardiovascular department, decided to give an intervention operation on the baby to close the arterial duct.
“The doctor told me my baby’s mitral regurgitation would be mitigated after the intervention,” Lin said.
Yet a month later, the baby suffered health complications and was transferred to Guangdong General Hospital, where she had three more surgeries.
Doctor Meng later gave Lin 2,000 yuan in a red envelope and said he felt sorry about the suffering the baby endured.
Meng also returned a surgical instrument fee of 12,500 yuan to Lin and claimed that the money was given back by the surgical instrument company.
Lin, however, felt suspicious that Meng might have misdiagnosed her child. “He probably wanted to cover up his mistake by giving us money,” Lin said.
She added that other doctors now said her baby should have waited until she was grown to have the surgery.
Meng explained that he just wanted to make a compensation for the baby’s suffering and said he didn’t misdiagnosis her.
The surgical instrument company declined to comment.
Meng’s hospital said that there were no disputes over the treatment before or after the first surgery and that Meng was just showing his personal blessing to the baby by giving money to the family.
The hospital said Lin could hire a third-party institution to conduct an assessment of the case and that the hospital would like to pay the assessment fee.(Zhang Yang)
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