Lawyer says regulations lacking
By Xu Chi |
August 26, 2011, Friday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
When doctors abandoned their patient to flee a hospital fire, the incident sparked widespread public concern about the medical professionals' ethics.
There were also questions over whether hospital workers had been properly trained on how to act in an emergency to ensure the safety of patients.
A heated online discussion began over whether the doctors and nurses in the operating room on Wednesday night should have stayed with their patient instead of leaving him to die alone.
On microblog site weibo.com, some said that doctors should be held responsible for the patient's death as their "inaction in taking the patient out of the heavy smoke was a major reason leading to his death."
Others argued that medical staff shouldn't risk their lives when nothing could be done to help the patient, given the circumstances.
Hospital officials told reporters the patient could not have been moved as he was attached to heavy life-support equipment, without which he would have died in minutes.
Shanghai lawyer Wu Dong said the case revealed a lack of laws and regulations to protect patients in such situations.
"According to the law, medical workers should be held responsible for misbehavior or faults during operations that lead to injuries or death," said Wu.
"But there are no laws saying that they should protect patients in fire or other emergency accidents," Wu added.
Wu said that in absence of such laws, doctors who left their patients to die could easily escape punishment as long as they could prove that they had to flee in order to save their own lives.
There were also questions over whether hospital workers had been properly trained on how to act in an emergency to ensure the safety of patients.
A heated online discussion began over whether the doctors and nurses in the operating room on Wednesday night should have stayed with their patient instead of leaving him to die alone.
On microblog site weibo.com, some said that doctors should be held responsible for the patient's death as their "inaction in taking the patient out of the heavy smoke was a major reason leading to his death."
Others argued that medical staff shouldn't risk their lives when nothing could be done to help the patient, given the circumstances.
Hospital officials told reporters the patient could not have been moved as he was attached to heavy life-support equipment, without which he would have died in minutes.
Shanghai lawyer Wu Dong said the case revealed a lack of laws and regulations to protect patients in such situations.
"According to the law, medical workers should be held responsible for misbehavior or faults during operations that lead to injuries or death," said Wu.
"But there are no laws saying that they should protect patients in fire or other emergency accidents," Wu added.
Wu said that in absence of such laws, doctors who left their patients to die could easily escape punishment as long as they could prove that they had to flee in order to save their own lives.
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