Death of innocence creates crisis of credibility
- Source: Global Times
- [22:19 November 23 2009]
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Zhang Hui wins his lawsuit against the transport administration team in Minhang district, Shanghai, on November 19. Zhang was captured by an entrapment operation in September. Photos: CFP
By Zhu Shanshan and Liu Chang
Few doctor-patient disputes can be solved as fast as the Baby Xu case. Five-month-old Xu died of a fever and an eye infection in Nanjing Children's Hospital on November 4 while his doctor played online games and his parents pleaded for his help.
An investigation by Nanjing Health Bureau exonerated the hospital and the doctor. Two days later, an investigation by a third party reversed the result: they found Dr. Mao Xiaojun had in fact covered up the truth he had been playing online games as Xu died.
Not surprisingly, such third-party investigations are gaining media traction especially as this case followed the notorious Shanghai sting where traffic authorities entrapped innocent motorists as illegal taxi operators or the Yunnan Province hide-and-seek case where a beaten-to-death prisoner was said to have bumped his head playing.
In all three cases, the results of the official investigations ignited such vociferous online criticism that the local authority felt obliged to adopt third-party investigations to pacify enflamed public sentiment.
"The Nanjing Health Bureau is directly related to the Nanjing Children's Hospital. They are like father and son," said Zhu Rongkang, director of the Nanjing station of Jiangsu People's Radio Station, who attended the third-party investigation into what Chinese mainland media dubbed the Baby Xu case.
"If the son makes a mistake, the father will not easily be regarded as unbiased. They have to seek the credibility of a third-party and let us tell the truth."
Likewise, complaints from Internet users prompted the publicity department of Yunnan Province to select representatives from Internet users to handle the case, third-party investigator Wen Xing told the Global Times.
