Greater awareness to reduce medical disputes

Beijing's health and family planning commission is cooperating with a local court to lower the risks of medical disputes by improving medical workers' awareness of "practicing medicine according to the law", the commission said on its website on Monday.

The commission is cooperating with the Beijing Second Intermediate People's Court, whose jurisdiction covers Dongcheng and Xicheng districts where hospitals are the most concentrated, said Zhong Dongbo, deputy director of the commission.

The commission will select hospitals and judges will train medical workers on laws and regulations, according to Zhong. Medical workers will also attend medical disputes in court.

Typical disputes will be used as a reference for hospitals and medical workers.

"During the process of a hearing the court analyzes every case in detail, so it can reflect specific hospital problems," Zhong said.

One of the issues patients complain about most is medical records, and the commission hopes to find a solution to that, according to Wang Kaibin, an official with the commission.

Wang, who used to take care of complaints filed by patients, said he saw lapses in medical records, such as when medical workers confused their patients' genders or their marital status, which could reinforce patients' doubts over the authenticity of the records.

"Medical records are very important evidence when the court is judging a medical dispute, so medical workers should follow certain requirements when they are keeping them," said Zhong.

Another problem that needs addressing is that the assessment of damages patients claim to have suffered during or after the treatment — including whether and how medical service has caused damages and who should be responsible — hasn't gained enough trust from the public, said Wang.

The assessment can be carried out by the Beijing branch of the Chinese Medical Association or forensic organizations registered with the city's judicial bureau, according to Wang.

The branch summons experts working with hospitals to assess the medical disputes other hospitals are involved in, but "patients tend to suspect that experts will cover up for the hospitals", he said.

On the other hand, the ability of forensic organizations to assess medical damages needs to improve, he added.

The past three years "have shown that forensic organizations lack ability in the profession of clinical medicine, making it difficult to guarantee that the assessment is scientific," said the commission in December.