Parents of an eight-year-old AIDS patient in central China's Henan
Province have filed a lawsuit against a Beijing hospital,
claiming blood transfused there was infected with the HIV
virus.
In what's believed to be the first such case in the Chinese
capital, the Beijing Haidian District People's Court accepted the
lawsuit.
The boy's father Sun Ya, claims more than 860,000 yuan
(US$104,000) in compensation for medical fees and psychological
damages.
The court session is expected to open in about a month, sources
said.
The hospital is the famous Stomatological Hospital affiliated
with Peking
University.
The eight-year-old boy Xiao Fei (not his real name) tested
positive for HIV last November at the Henan Provincial Health and
Epidemic Prevention Station after suffering from a serious case of
pneumonia, his father claims.
Both Sun Ya and his wife, Yuan Wenli, have tested negative for
the virus.
"So the infection is not between my wife and my son. Xiao Fei
was only seven years old then. He has no sexual ability. He is not
a drug addict," Sun said.
Sun and his wife concluded that the blood transfusion was the
one likely source of the infection.
"My son has received only one blood transfusion. That was during
an operation at the Stomatological Hospital affiliated with Peking
University," he said.
Xiao Fei underwent a cleft palate repair procedure at the
hospital in August 2002.
"Physicians in my hometown, Zhengzhou of Henan Province, advised
me to take my son to this famous Beijing-based hospital for the
operation for better medical treatment," Sun Ya said.
The hospital's director of the medical affairs department, who
only gave her surname as Shen, said the boy's HIV infection is not
connected to the hospital.
"The blood used by our hospital is provided by the authoritative
blood center in Beijing. It is legal," she said.
Shen added that the boy has also been operated on at Henan
hospitals, making it difficult to tell where he was infected.
She declined to make any more comments yesterday.
Still, one legal expert said it's up to the hospital to prove no
tainted blood came from them.
"According to a judicial interpretation issued by the Supreme
People's Court in 2001, the accused hospital has to provide
evidence to prove its medical treatment is not the cause to the
patient's injuries. Otherwise the hospital should shoulder
responsibility for the patient's injuries," said Shi Jichun,
professor with the Law School of the Renmin University of
China.
"The patient only needs to provide evidence to prove he has been
treated at the accused hospital, such as registration card, and the
injuries testimony," he said.
Xu Kexin, director of the AIDS medical research center at the
Beijing Ditan Hospital, a well-known AIDS treatment center, said
there are only three ways to be infected by the HIV virus. The
virus can be transmitted by fluids exchanged between mother and
children, in blood transfusion or through sexual contact.
Most children infected by the HIV virus, usually contract it
through one of the first two ways, said Xu.
Lawsuits over HIV-tainted blood have surfaced in recent years in
many regions including Henan, north China's Hebei
Province and east China's Jiangsu
Province.
Sun Aihong, a 39-year-old woman in Gongyi city of Henan,
received compensation of 268,000 yuan (US$32,000) from a local
hospital last year. She was infected eight years ago after a blood
transfusion.
Six-year-old Jia Jia received 362,000 yuan (US$44,000) in
Xingtai, Hebei Province, from a local hospital. The girl was
diagnosed as an HIV carrier in 1999 after her mother died of AIDS.
Her mother was infected through a blood transfusion at the
hospital. The Xingtai Intermediate People's Court made the judgment
in December last year.
"I do not know whether we can win the case," said the
36-year-old mother of the eight-year-old patient.
"I do not know how long our money can support my son's medical
treatment either," she added.
She and her husband both quit their jobs after their son fell
ill in November. Medical costs are more than 20,000 yuan (US$2,410)
per month.
(China Daily February 3, 2004)