Li En-Chang, Wen Chun-Feng
Medical College of Xi’an Jiaotong University, Xi’an, China.
J Med Philos. 2010 Oct;35(5):587-99. doi: 10.1093/jmp/jhq045. Epub 2010 Oct 5.
This essay explores a tragic event that happened in China, which garnered much attention, the Li case: a young woman who was nine months pregnant and her baby died as a result of the failure to receive a medically necessary c-section due to the hospital having failed to secure her family's consent for the c-section. Differing from some critiques, this essay argues that the Li case should not be used to blame the Confucian family-determination model that has been applied in Chinese society for thousands of years. Based on summarizing the reasons supporting the model, this essay indicates that it is an integral part of the model that, in emergency or special cases, the physician must take medical action to save the patient, without the need to secure the consent of a family member. In order to prevent tragic cases like the Li case from happening, we recommend that relevant Chinese laws be further developed and specified and that, most importantly, Chinese physicians must cultivate the Confucian virtue of benevolence in their practice of taking care of patients in a virtuous way, along with patients' families.
本文探讨了中国发生的一起备受关注的悲剧事件——李案：一名怀孕九个月的年轻女子及其胎儿因医院未能征得其家人同意进行必要的剖腹产手术而死亡。与一些批评观点不同，本文认为李案不应被用来指责在中国社会应用了数千年的儒家家庭决定模式。在总结支持该模式的理由时，本文指出，在紧急情况或特殊情况下，医生必须采取医疗行动拯救患者，而无需征得家庭成员同意，这是该模式不可或缺的一部分。为防止类似李案的悲剧发生，我们建议进一步完善和细化中国相关法律，最重要的是，中国医生在以高尚的方式照顾患者及其家属的实践中，必须培养儒家的仁爱美德。
