The hospital hired an external expert to perform surgery on a patient but charged an unticketed expert fee. After the surgery, the patient found that they could not see and discovered that the chief surgeon was not the expert they had paid for. For this reason, the teacher recounted the details of the event where he ran over a robber with his car and stated that he would not regret or feel guilty. On the 11th day, the reporter went to Anyang for an investigation and found that for such matters, the local medical dispute prevention and handling committee expressed "unable to accept," and the Health Bureau also responded: collecting expert fees without issuing tickets is "the same across the country." [Oriental Today (Weibo) reporter Tao Zhuì, Henan TV Station Channel 9 reporter Hou Shengnan, Liu Wei Yang]
[Event] The expert performing the surgery was "replaced"?
At the beginning of 2010, Gao Sumei from Jun County, Hebi, found her right eye starting to blur when looking at things. Subsequently, after contacting her younger sister, she came to Anyang Eye Hospital in July 2010 for treatment and was diagnosed with a macular hole. Without timely surgery, her condition would continue to deteriorate.
Gao Sumei claimed that at the time, the hospital informed her that the ophthalmology expert Xu Yimin from Peking University Third Hospital was seeing patients at the Anyang Eye Hospital. Her type of condition would benefit more if the Beijing expert performed the surgery.
With the expert at the hospital, Gao Sumei immediately arranged for admission procedures and was soon scheduled for surgery. However, on the day of the surgery, Gao Sumei received notice that she must pay an additional 1500 yuan expert fee for the surgery to proceed. To treat her eyes, Gao Sumei unhesitatingly paid the expert fee, "At the time, the head nurse collected the money and did not issue me a receipt."
After paying, the surgery proceeded as usual. However, more than 20 days after the surgery, Gao Sumei discovered that her right eye could no longer see. Subsequently, Gao Sumei's family re-examined the medical records and surgical records and found that in the surgical record, the name in the chief surgeon column was not the Beijing expert but rather a doctor named "Guo Guang."
For this reason, Gao Sumei's family contacted Peking University Third Hospital and learned that the hospital indeed had an ophthalmology expert named Xu Yimin, but the Beijing hospital authorities were unaware of where he was currently practicing.
[Response] The hospital cannot prove that the expert performed the surgery
On the 11th, the reporter went to Anyang Eye Hospital, where the union chairman Ji Yazhou stated that they had let the expert examine Gao Sumei, but the medical records showed otherwise, and someone was investigating the matter.
Ji Yazhou also claimed that the surgery on the day of Gao Sumei was indeed performed by the Beijing expert Xu Yimin himself, but the relevant evidence could not be provided at the moment. The hospital indeed collected the patient's expert fee and did not issue a receipt, which Chairman Ji did not deny. The hospital used the expert fee mainly for the expenses of externally hired experts in Anyang. This expert fee was collected under the premise of voluntary participation by the patient. Ji Yazhou also indicated that this was an industry unwritten rule.
Then why is the chief surgeon in the surgical record someone else? In response to this, Ji Yazhou was unwilling to elaborate and kept emphasizing that the matter had been transferred to the Anyang City Medical Dispute Prevention and Handling Committee, and the relevant evidence was there.
When the reporter requested to view the relevant evidence materials, it was rejected by Ji Yazhou. "You are not an investigative body; the Anyang Mediation Center can adjust the data. As news media, some things are inconvenient to share with you."
[Paradox] Ophthalmology experts cannot investigate their own hospital
On the 12th, the reporter accompanied Gao Sumei's younger sister to the Anyang City Medical Dispute Prevention and Handling Committee to understand the situation. However, the reporter learned here that Gao Sumei's problem had not been accepted.
"This is a charging issue, which falls under the jurisdiction of the disciplinary inspection department of the Health Bureau; red envelopes belong to conduct evaluation," said Director Zhang of the office of the Anyang City Medical Dispute Prevention and Handling Committee. Even if they formally accepted mediation, due to the special nature of Anyang Eye Hospital, the investigation into the details of the surgery would be very difficult to implement. "There will be an expert review during the mediation, which serves as the basis. But the experts capable of reviewing issues related to the eye hospital are all within the eye hospital, making it impossible to operate according to the principle of avoidance. If mediation fails,异地appraisal will be needed, and without expert opinions, it’s hard to mediate."
[Progress] The Health Bureau accepts complaints and continues investigations
Helplessly, the reporter had to go to the Anyang City Health Bureau with Gao Sumei's younger sister.
A responsible person from the Medical Education Department of the Anyang City Health Bureau stated that from a rational perspective, all hospitals in the city have such situations regarding the collection of expert fees without issuing receipts. A staff member from the Disciplinary Inspection Department of the Anyang City Health Bureau also stated that although the head nurse collecting money without issuing a receipt is non-compliant, no punishment would be given because "this is the case nationwide."
The responsible person from the Medical Education Department of the Anyang City Health Bureau also said that inviting external experts to the hospital is not registered with the Health Bureau, so there are no records on their side. And as an ordinary patient, Ms. Gao actually doesn't need to delve into the detailed issues of the expert performing the surgery.
Finally, the staff of the Anyang City Health Bureau expressed that they would also accept Ms. Gao's complaint and continue the investigation. However, there is a time limit for the investigation, which needs to be negotiated.