Patient Deng Guisi suffered from acute liver failure at the United Hospital in 2017 due to two doctors "prescribing leaked medicine". However, he underwent two liver transplants and eventually died.
Six years later, two doctors were recently charged with manslaughter and released on bail pending trial.
The incident aroused controversy in the medical field. Some members believed that the workload of the doctors in the public hospital was too heavy, and it would be difficult for them to make mistakes if they did not make mistakes.
Referring to overseas cases, there were also similar controversial cases in the UK, which also aroused great repercussions from the British medical community at that time. Although the doctor was convicted of manslaughter in the end, he could resume his medical qualifications after a successful appeal.
Au Jiecheng, honorary consultant of the Bioethics Center of Chinese University, believes that it is difficult for doctors in the public hospital to make mistakes while they are busy. The factors behind the problems of the medical system, the society cannot ignore the problems behind the medical system.
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The female patient Deng Guisi went to United Hospital in 2017. She suffered from acute liver failure suspected to be due to a leaked medicine. shocked the medical world.
Lin Zhexuan, a member of the Legislative Council's medical and health sector who was originally a doctor, responded to the incident earlier, saying that the workload of the doctors in the public hospital is too heavy, and the consultation time is short. "It is difficult to make mistakes."
Can a busy doctor be an excuse?
Quoting from Au Niecheng, the case of "R v Bawa-Garba" in the UK involved a pediatrician who was intern at the time and made repeated mistakes when treating a sick child, including failing to follow up the test report quickly and mistakenly listing it as In order to "do not need to resuscitate", in the end, the child suffered from sepsis due to bacterial infection, and then died of a heart attack. He was later charged with manslaughter.
The doctor has always denied the charges during the trial, arguing that she worked for 12 hours without a break that day, which affected her judgment, but in the end the jury ruled 10 to 2 that she had made a "great" mistake and was guilty of "negligent manslaughter". The judge sentenced him to two years in prison suspended for two years.
There is a shortage of doctors in public hospitals, and some medical circles worry that doctors in public hospitals will be more prone to medical accidents due to their heavy workload and less time for consultation.
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Au Jiecheng said that this case is similar to the current situation faced by public doctors in Hong Kong, and they are also in the medical system of "being caught is not easy".
Doctors are always busy, and they have to take care of many things.
Au Chengcheng, Honorary Advisor of the Center for Bioethics, CUHK
However, he emphasized that when the society examines the occurrence of related accidents, it must also not forget the problems of the medical system behind it.
Take the "R v Bawa-Garba" case as an example. The doctor was later sentenced to be removed from the doctor's register due to the case. However, local medical professionals supported the doctor involved and believed that under the medical structure problems such as manpower shortage, the doctor should not After blaming individual medical staff, the court finally overturned the relevant ruling in 2018 and restored his medical qualifications.
Honorary Consultant of the Bioethics Center of the Chinese University of Hong Kong, Former Quality and Safety Director of the Hospital Authority Au Yat-sing (File Photo/Photo by Lu Yiming)
Then British Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt also announced a series of measures to protect doctors and nurses who had medical accidents.
Au Jiecheng pointed out that most serious medical accidents have factors related to problems in the medical system, so the society must find out the reasons behind them and make improvements.
It's not that there is no problem with a doctor, but that if there is a problem with the medical system, you should find out about it.
Au Chengcheng, Honorary Advisor of the Center for Bioethics, CUHK
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