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," Su 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 centre
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 centre at the Beijing Ditan
Hospital, a well-known AIDS treatment centre, 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 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 said.
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.
