Zhejiang forms team on child's postoperative death

The Zhejiang provincial government has sent a working group to oversee the handling of a high-profile case involving the postoperative death of a child in Ningbo, Xinhua News Agency reported on Tuesday.

The child, surnamed Xu, died on Nov 14 after undergoing heart surgery at the Women and Children's Hospital of Ningbo University, an incident that has drawn widespread attention on social media.

The provincial government is treating the case as a top priority and has dispatched a team to strengthen supervision of follow-up measures, according to the report. Ningbo city authorities have also sent a working group to the hospital to continue the investigation, implement corrective actions and ensure normal clinical operations.

In a statement released on Dec 14, Ningbo's health commission said its investigation had identified multiple problems in the medical team's care. These included inadequate assessment of surgical risks, operative negligence, failure to promptly inform the family of intraoperative emergencies, and shortcomings in postoperative monitoring and care.

The hospital was also found to have weaknesses in enforcing medical quality and safety systems and in risk prevention, the commission said.

A series of accountability measures have been announced, which included the lead surgeon and the anesthesiologist both being stripped of their department head posts and suspended from clinical practice, and the suspension of the pediatric intensive care attending physician, among others.

Further actions against other personnel will be taken following the results of a medical-accident technical appraisal and in accordance with the law.

After the incident, the commission arranged for an autopsy to be conducted by a forensic center selected by the child's family. Tide News, an online news outlet in Zhejiang, reported that the notarized autopsy report was handed to the family on Dec 19.

Tide News also reported that Ningbo has launched a formal medical-accident technical appraisal and will convene domestic experts to identify any medical errors and determine degrees of responsibility. The family's medical liability lawsuit against the hospital has been accepted by a local court.

From Nov 19 to Dec 9, the investigation team invited 17 experts from hospitals in Beijing, Shanghai and other regions, as well as from provincial and municipal hospitals in Zhejiang and Ningbo, to evaluate the case, according to a Xinhua report. The panel included specialists in pediatric cardiac surgery, cardiothoracic and vascular surgery, anesthesiology, pediatric intensive care, neonatology and forensic medicine.

The experts agreed that the child's condition warranted surgery and that there were no absolute contraindications. However, they differed on the choice of surgical timing, which will be clarified after the medical-accident technical appraisal is completed.

Ningbo's health commission said it will carry out a citywide quality and safety rectification campaign focusing on surgical safety, patient safety, humane care and standardized medical record-keeping.