Reports undermine doctor-patient relationships

The question now is why so many hospitals go beyond the regulation when it is out there. It comes down to the medical system in China again. Doctors are poorly paid, overworked and unpopular due to a flailing and corruption-ridden medical system. When they know a certain behavior wouldn't hurt the health of the patients, they go for the extra cash. Some normal practices include prescribing more than the patients need, prescribing expensive but unnecessary medicine, and sending patients to unnecessary but costly checkups. It is also no secret in China that nearly every hospital covers expenses by additional medical revenue.

Also, situations are worse for the obstetric departments. Unlike surgical or internal departments, doctors in this field whose job is to deliver babies normally have a much smaller chance to use expensive medicine. They have to find other ways, and they turn to the milk and diapers that babies have to use.

Since systematic change still has a long way to go, the trust between patients and doctors is still missing. When parents assume everything doctors recommend are for money, they are putting their own health in danger. The continuing deteriorating relationship between doctors and patients can end up hurting all. It would be unfair to criticize the patients, for they are in a weaker position and their ignorance combined with anxiety might affect their judgment, but it was also unfair to judge the doctors in this case, for their intentions are doubted even before their diagnoses.

Without pointing fingers at anyone, the most direct way out is to understand the situation fully and avoid any miscommunication. Doctors and nurses need to try to think as a patient and discipline themselves with higher standards. Patients should stand in other people's shoes to first understand doctors are humans but not godlike figures who cure everything quickly. That common ground established can guarantee a more active and reasonable dialogue later.

Media also have an important role in this situation. A gynecologist once complained to me that in her practice nowadays, it is more and more common to face ridiculous charges. “Eight out of 10 patients would ask not to give them the wrong babies before delivering,” she said. That was because some silly screenplays tell stories about how two families were given each others' children. “Right after birth we would leave the baby's footprint and handprint on the birth certificate, so tell me, how can it be wrong? Why are young parents so dramatic and put the media's opinions ahead of ours?”

Media have the right to investigate anything, but it is not professional to make judgments prematurely, especially in a field that requires years of study and practice. After the exposes about bad milk, many parents become overly suspicious and declined to feed their babies anything than breast milk. News came out that a couple with postgraduate degrees refused to feed the baby milk 18 hours after birth even after the baby showed signs of dehydration and fever. Luckily, the baby was rescued by doctors.

Not only do some media step in, they also judge. It hurts medical professionals' feelings that media have a tendency to blame them first when medical accidents break out. The media tend to put them in a negative light, which greatly undermines their reputation and credibility, further undermining the relationship between them and their patients.

When medical accidents occur, hospitals normally report them to the government and ask for a medical assessment by a third party to see who is truly responsible. There are many reasons for such accidents since the human body is still a mystery in many ways and complications happen so fast. Media reporters need to be more prudent and objective, especially when they lack medical knowledge.

The right thing for the media to do now is to spread more common sense for patients and other people who should be more aware of their own bodies - to teach people how to live a healthier life, to teach them the basics of medicine and to equip them with enough literacy to distinguish, but not to spread sensationalized exceptions just to attract attention. There are still older people in this country who believe that eating rabbit meat during pregnancy will give the baby a harelip. Those obviously misguided statements should be corrected soon.

In today's situation, what we could do to smooth out the relationship is to communicate more with a humble attitude. Practitioners should be more disciplined, patients should be more reasonable and literate, and the media should be more objective and professional.

The author is an intern writer with China Daily.