Daily Lessons from Life 13 November 2009

"Fri, Nov 13, 2009 China Daily/Asia News Network - Baby dies while doctor plays game online

A 5-month old baby died in hospital while the doctor was playing a game online, an investigation has found.


The boy was taken to the Nanjing Children's Hospital last Tuesday with a serious eye infection that can lead to swelling inside the skull. Though staff said the boy was doing fine in the afternoon, his condition worsened and he died about 1:30 the next morning.

Computer experts later found the ophthalmologist, Mao Xiaojun, had been playing a game of 'go' online, health officials said yesterday.


Mao will be dismissed from the hospital and deprived of his medical certificate. All other on-duty staff will be punished.

The incident came to light after an article posted on the Internet condemned Mao and the hospital, alleging he was playing online games. The hospital initially said that Mao was writing his thesis that night.

However, health officials launched their own investigation. "Mao lied to us a few days ago," Li Shaodong, director of the healthcare reform office of the Jiangsu health department, told China Daily yesterday. "He admitted to playing the game of 'go' online after our computer experts checked out evidence on his computer."

He said Mao did not follow hospital regulations and his sluggish attitude toward patients led to the boy's death.


The incident has focused attention on negligence and malpractice in hospitals.

On Tuesday, officials at Zhongshan Ophthalmic Center at Sun Yat-sen University said that three of 10 patients who underwent procedures to correct myopia, or nearsightedness, on Oct 21 became infected because the center had used the same laser machine for experiments on animals.

Since 2002, more than 10,000 lawsuits over medical disputes have been filed in China each year. Health experts have called for medical staff to improve their skills, and for quicker healthcare reforms."

A very sad and tragic incident of someone with special training, expertise and skills being unfocused on the important and urgent thing!

Lessons for me are:

1. when you are equipped with special skills or gifts, treasured it and share with fellow human beings. You can do a lot of good and this is what most people are looking for in life. To make a difference for people who are less able and less fortunate and dependent on you!;

2. in Chinese that is a saying: 玩物丧志 i.e. you will lose you focus and desire to do good when you indulge in worldly material things/hobbies. It is very true and we MUST guard against that. Losing a young life due to one's focused on playing a game of 'go' online simply cannot be accepted;

3. in PRC where such cases in the past will be hard to process, the case was investigated by the healthy officials showed that maybe, just maybe, the government is serious about clearing up the filth and corruption and abuses in the medical system. That will produce tremendous positive impact though there will be strong resistance within the system.

It is important to remind ourselves that we can have hobbies and special passion for certain earthly things. At the same time, we must not let it interfere with our duties and gifts!