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September 3, 2011

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Baby gets dad's liver after legal delays

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.


 

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