THE sharp rise in medical disputes in recent years and subsequent media interpretations of these events have significantly tarnished the image of the healing profession.

Doctors in China were once known as "angels in white" and for many people becoming a physician still is a dream come true - helping people in a demanding and respectable profession.

One of the greatest physicians, the Taoist Sun Simiao (AD 581-682), once said, "A great physician, in dealing with illness, should first settle in a peaceful state of mind, be free of any desires and full of charity, bestowing help to those in need, as if they are next of kin, irrespective of their status, appearances, nationality ..."

American bioethics scholar Edmund Pellegrino also observed, "Medicine is the most scientific of the humanities and the most humane of sciences," bridging the physical state of the human being with his own psychological and spiritual state.

But the dramatic increase in the number of incidents of patient-physician hostilities in China suggests these idealistic observations are becoming obsolete.

As an increasing number of doctors become targets of assaults by disgruntled patients, their relatives, or hired thugs, practicing medicine has become a risky job.

The following cases are just a random sampling of recent occurrences.

On December 5 in the No. 1 People's Hospital in Zhangjiagang, Jiangsu Province, more than 1,000 people gathered to mourn a five-year-old child who had died at the hospital while receiving treatment. Scuffles ensued.

On September 15, Dr Xu Wen, director of the ENT (Eye, Nose, and Throat) Department of Beijing Tongren Hospital and a recipient of numerous awards, was stabbed 17 times by a patient she had treated for cancer.

Later some of Xu's colleagues launched a strike in protest against the brutal attack.

Four days before the attack on Xu, in Beijing Dr Mu Xinlin was attacked by a patient's relatives and suffered neck wounds and bone fractures.

Some hospitals are fighting back. On August 23, around 100 people armed with fish spears and iron bars stormed into a hospital in Nanchang, capital of Jiangxi Province, apparently to avenge (and to extort cash compensations for) a patient who had died there while undergoing surgery.

The invaders were soon surprised by nearly 100 hospital defenders, all wearing red bands on their wrists, some armed with iron bars and wearing police helmets. The patient's horde were quickly routed.

In some areas there have emerged Mafia-like organizations for hire as mercenaries to make scenes at hospitals.

According to statistics from the Ministry of Health, reports of such violent confrontations numbered 10,248 in 2006, but soared to 17,243 in 2010.

In a recent lecture at Fudan University Medical College, philosophy professor Shen Mingxian identified the reckless pursuit of economic returns as the reason some Chinese medical practitioners betray their humanistic values.

Pursuit of profits has led some doctors to prescribe unnecessary or expensive medicine or treatment. China has been criticized by World Health Organization for its abuse of antibiotics and the high rate of caesarean births.

Healing as business

Some top hospitals are reaping 1 to 3 billion yuan (US$159 to 476 million) in annual revenues, and are very smug about their profits, just like successful businesses.

To increase their profit margins, these hospitals all place particular emphasis on exclusive "special service treatment" that caters for the wealthy.

Another lucrative business is to put to clinical use techniques that are still being tested, such as numerous stem cell treatments.

The push for profit further worsens the already unfair distribution of limited health resources, often at the expense of rural and remote areas.

Before market reform was kicked off 30 years ago, China boasted one of the world's most extensive state-subsidized rural health care system that benefited 90 percent of the rural population, and was the envy of the world.

In 2003, the percentage of medical coverage in cities dropped to 43 percent, and to 3.1 percent in rural areas.

In cities medical services steadily gravitate towards the affluent and the privileged.

In 2000 and 2005, the United Nations' World Health Report evaluated 191 national public health systems for equitable funding of medical services, and China ranked 188th, behind Ethiopia and Honduras.

It is common knowledge today that some patients need to favor some doctors with "red envelopes" (cash) to be hospitalized or undergo surgery.

These developments reflects the domination of capital in medicine.

According to professor Du Zhizheng, an expert on bioethics, the domination of capital means the pursuit of capital in medical services to expand capital and maximize profits.

Commitment to these purposes leads to such problems as over-medication, ostentatious medicine (showing off technology), or treatment of fictitious diseases. These tendencies obstruct the more sensible policies of putting prevention first, or paying equal attention to prevention and treatment.

Another tendency is the domination of technology, in which the practice of medicine, the management and operation of hospitals and the professional aspirations of the medical staff are subjugated to science and technology, rather than human beings.

Cult of technology

This unrelenting pursuit of technology can lead to inhuman, criminal consequences.

Last year the US government apologized for a 1946-48 experiment in which US government researchers used prostitutes to deliberately infect prison inmates in Guatemala with syphilis.

The experiment was conducted to test the effectiveness of penicillin, which was relatively new then, in treating sexually transmitted diseases.

The superstition about technology, while enormously profitable for hospitals, also encourages many patients to entertain such unrealistic illusions about medical treatment that they simply cannot accept failures.

American bioethics scholar Pelligrino observed that "most clinical choices are made without the certainty of having all of the facts, without knowing what the future is going to hold ..."

Even for those with the most resources for the prolongation of life, it must be acknowledged that his or her earthly tenure will end in the form of a medical failure.

As a Chinese proverb goes, herbal roots and stalks (common elements of traditional Chinese medicine) can cure illness, but cannot save life.

Professor Shen Mingxian said that underlying all these untoward developments is the unconditional embrace of market forces at the beginning of the reform of the planned economy three decades ago.

At that transitional period "there was a crying need for promoting correct values and code of conduct," he said.

Unfortunately, for a long time, economic growth, material gains and enjoyment are portrayed as the only things worth aspiring to, as money became the sole yardstick for judging performance and success.

By viewing medical entities as businesses, the state shed the burden of having to fund hospital operations, leaving it to the caprices of the market.

Selling medicine at a markup has become a chief source of revenue for all hospitals.

For unknown reasons, in the heat of physician-patient confrontations, the state and media until recently have chosen to throw their weight behind the patients in accusing hospitals of being cold-blooded money grabbers.

Policy overtures

When money, growth and efficiency become the new religion of the whole nation, our medical professionals are blamed for lacking a charitable spirit.

Media and critics pretend not to see that Chinese doctors are a group of people generally very well educated, overworked, and underpaid.

China's more than 6 million doctors have to minister to the health of 1.3 billion people. Some doctors have to treat the complaints of more than 100 patients a day.

Disappointed and disillusioned professionals are leaving the profession to work as pharmaceutical representatives.

A recent state document on medical reform clearly characterized "public goods" as the nature of medical service and emphasized the "social benefits" of public hospitals. That's progress.

The challenge is how to make that happen.

In view of the havoc wrought by the market credo, the healing profession needs to undertake a long healing process.