Advanced Search

The story appears on

Page A7

September 26, 2011

GET this page in PDF

Free for subscribers

View shopping cart

Related News

Home » Nation

Toe transplant misery

By Ni Yinbin | September 26, 2011, Monday | Print Edition

A MIGRANT worker in southern China's Guangdong Province has been struggling to walk for almost 18 months after one of his toes was transplanted to replace his severed thumb, China Radio International reported yesterday.

Li Zicheng's right thumb was cut off by an electric saw in April 2010 while he was working in a factory in Huizhou City, Guangdong. He was sent to the city's Huiyang Zhenggu Hospital for surgery.

"Doctors suggested cutting off one of my toes and transplanting it to my right hand," Li told reporters.

The hospital took the toe next to the big toe on Li's left foot and transplanted it to be his new right thumb.

However, the surgery proved unsuccessful as Li couldn't move his "new thumb" afterward and also now had problems walking.

"They didn't fix my hand and injured my foot," Li said.

But the hospital seems unwilling to take responsibility, refusing repeatedly to compensate Li, even though the surgery had been recognized as a case of medical negligence by the province's medical authority, CRI reported.

"If you had a relationship with top-level guys, you could get 20,000 yuan (US$3,127.8) of compensation," the hospital told CRI. "Or you can file a lawsuit."

Li said he had been to the hospital and the local medical authority hundreds of times with his complaint but that all his efforts seemed to be in vain as no one had ever dealt with his grievance.

"No one from the government is taking care of the migrant workers like me," Li said.

"I was even questioned by the police once for asking for an explanation at the hospital, which really upset me."

Nation


 

Copyright © 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.

沪公网安备 31010602000204号

Email this to your friend