THE husband of a dead patient was ordered by Bao’an District People’s Court to pay 500 yuan (US$80) and apologize to a doctor from a clinic after harassing medical staff, Shenzhen Economic Daily reported yesterday.

    This is the first time in China a patient’s side has been held legally responsible in a dispute with a hospital, according to the report.

    On Sept. 3, a woman surnamed Liu was found dead at her home in Shajing, Bao’an District, but her husband, surnamed Chen, insisted that a clinic where Liu had been treated before should be held responsible and demanded 3 million yuan in compensation.

    The clinic denied the claim. On Sept. 5, Chen led a group of people to block the gate of the clinic and held a funeral ceremony there. A doctor surnamed Jiang received threats and was afraid of going to work.

    After mediation by Bao’an’s health authority and industry association, Chen agreed to a post-mortem examination by Sun Yat-sen University, which showed that Liu had died of corrosive poisoning instead of through a medical accident. (Continued on P2)

    On Sep. 26, the clinic officially launched a lawsuit against Chen. On Nov. 10, Bao’an District People’s Court ruled that Chen had disrupted the clinic’s normal order and should pay 500 yuan and write an apology to the doctor.

    In April, China’s top legislature, procuratorate, public security, justice and health authorities jointly released a document to punish acts of harassment and disruption of normal order in medical organizations.

    “In medical dispute cases, the patient’s side usually settles the case out of court,” said Huang Jianjun from Bao’an Social Medical Organizations Association. He said that the patient’s side can decide whether to have post-mortem examinations. Thus the association suggests that legislators make such examinations compulsory after medical disputes occur.

    Huang Jianjun, the threatened doctor, said he has been suffering from severe physical and mental pressure because of the dispute and that his father had been sent to a hospital and gone into a coma while worrying about his son.

    Huang said he had to bear the direct economic loss of the clinic closing, 200,000 yuan, plus the medical costs for his father, which are up to 700,000 yuan. Additionally he owes 2,200 yuan in legal fees.

    (Luo Songsong)