Home » Metro » Health and Science
Baby gets dad's liver after legal delays
By Jia Feishang |
September 3, 2011, Saturday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
A five-month-old girl, who for weeks had been denied a liver transplant because of a hang-up over paperwork confirming her father's paternity, finally received the organ surgery at a local hospital yesterday.
The surgeries on the man and his daughter went well, as the father donated part of his liver to the baby girl suffering congenital biliary atresia.
An official with Renji Hospital said that if post-surgery recovery of the baby, Ma Zihan, and her father go smoothly, they will be discharged in a week.
Though the family from Hebei Province arrived in Shanghai in early August, the surgeries were repeatedly postponed because the certificates offered by a Hebei Province police station to prove the two are father and daughter were not qualified.
The story of the family stirred heated discussions among local residents, asking for a more flexible practice.
According to regulations, an organ-transplant surgery between family members can occur only after the ethics commission of a hospital and the city's health authority approve.
But the certificates provided by the baby's family failed in the first two evaluations, and during that waiting period Ma's situation worsened - she was turning yellow and her belly was growing due to abdominal fluid.
After media exposure, local health authority contacted the Hebei police to confirm the father-daughter relationship on Thursday and thus approve the surgery.
A volunteer at the hospital, surnamed Zhou, said she had witnessed several children missing the most optimal time for treatment over the past few years due to unacceptable certificates.
The surgeries on the man and his daughter went well, as the father donated part of his liver to the baby girl suffering congenital biliary atresia.
An official with Renji Hospital said that if post-surgery recovery of the baby, Ma Zihan, and her father go smoothly, they will be discharged in a week.
Though the family from Hebei Province arrived in Shanghai in early August, the surgeries were repeatedly postponed because the certificates offered by a Hebei Province police station to prove the two are father and daughter were not qualified.
The story of the family stirred heated discussions among local residents, asking for a more flexible practice.
According to regulations, an organ-transplant surgery between family members can occur only after the ethics commission of a hospital and the city's health authority approve.
But the certificates provided by the baby's family failed in the first two evaluations, and during that waiting period Ma's situation worsened - she was turning yellow and her belly was growing due to abdominal fluid.
After media exposure, local health authority contacted the Hebei police to confirm the father-daughter relationship on Thursday and thus approve the surgery.
A volunteer at the hospital, surnamed Zhou, said she had witnessed several children missing the most optimal time for treatment over the past few years due to unacceptable certificates.
- About Us
- |
- Terms of Use
- |
-
RSS - |
- Privacy Policy
- |
- Contact Us
- |
- Shanghai Call Center: 962288
- |
- Tip-off hotline: 52920043
- 沪ICP证：沪ICP备05050403号-1
- |
- 互联网新闻信息服务许可证：31120180004
- |
- 网络视听许可证：0909346
- |
- 广播电视节目制作许可证：沪字第354号
- |
- 增值电信业务经营许可证：沪B2-20120012
Copyright © 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.
