Protect the saviors-when they are doctors or not
Text / Zhang Tiankan
Published in the 963th issue of China News Weekly on September 7, 2020
Recently, a video of "two medical students kneeling to the ground and crying bitterly after failing to save people" has sparked heated discussion on the Internet.
The video shows that on the day of the incident, a man fell to the ground suddenly at the Changde Railway Station in Hunan Province. Two female medical students immediately stepped forward to give first aid after seeing the incident, performing cardiac compressions and artificial respiration. The whole process lasted nearly 20 minutes until the ambulance arrived. Before the scene, the two never gave up.
Regrettably, the man finally passed away without rescue.
This result made the two medical students regret and sad, and they kept wiping tears when they left the scene. This scene was also filmed by the public video of the train station.
However, what is puzzling is that not only did the two medical students not receive praise, they were spoofed by some netizens: "The next day the family of the man took the two students to court because the two girls did not have medical qualifications... "
In response to this, two girls once responded through the school: (feeling) a little hurt and do not want to entangle this matter.
The Chengdu University of Traditional Chinese Medicine where they are located clearly stated that the two students have practiced the oath of medical students with their own actions and plan to award their principals a special award at the freshmen opening ceremony.
However, it is surprising that the Tucao spoofing medical students has received 61,000 likes. Perhaps some of them are unconsciously spoofing for the purpose of spoofing, deviating from the mainstream values and the universal moral sense of mankind for fun and attention. , But some people really just "off the track" of the Three Views, regardless of beauty and ugliness, good and evil.
The "Good Man Law" in the "Civil Code"
"Man drowning with hands" has always been the public ethics and values esteemed by the Chinese, and "saving a life is better than building a seven-level Buddha" is also an ethics respected by all mankind.
Regrettably, there are always two sides to the results of saving people. One is to save lives, and the other is to save lives due to various reasons.
Even if the patient is not saved, he should not be ridiculed or held accountable in any way.
The latter is confirmed by the law with the help of cultural wisdom and rational cognition in modern society-this is the "Good Samaritan Law."
A story in Chapter 10, verses 25 to 37 of the "Bible · Luke" is that a Jew was robbed by robbers and was seriously injured, lying on the side of the road.
There used to be Jewish priests and Levites passing by, but they did not notice.
Only a Samaritan passed by, ignoring the estrangement, moved compassionately to take care of him, and when he needed to leave, he paid out the money to send the Jews into the hotel.
So it is called "Good Samaritan".
On the basis of this story, European and American countries enacted the "Good Samaritan Law", which stipulates that rescuers who voluntarily provide assistance to the wounded and sick are exempted from responsibility. The purpose is to make the righteous and brave to do good things without worries. Don't worry about being held accountable for casualties caused by negligence, so as to encourage bystanders to help and rescue the injured and patients.
In China, there are also similar legal provisions called the "good man law".
Article 184 of the "Civil Code", "If the rescuer is injured due to voluntary emergency rescue, the rescuer shall not bear civil liability."
In addition to the civil law, various cities in China have also promulgated the local "good man law". For example, in November 2016, the "Regulations of Shanghai Municipality on Emergency Medical Services" clearly stipulated that emergency on-site rescue activities are protected by law. bear legal responsibility.
On October 1, 2018, the “Shenzhen Special Economic Zone Medical First Aid Regulations” stipulated that “on-site rescuers who perform good-faith and gratuitous emergency rescue behaviors to the wounded and sick are protected by law and cause civil damage to the rescued, and their liability may be imposed. Exempt."
It can be seen that the "good man law" also has certain conditions and regulations.
The first is that the emergency rescue behavior of the rescuer is based on voluntariness, that is, the act of doing what is right and helping others; the second is that it must be at the scene of the emergency, and this kind of assistance is free; the third is that there is no "care provision before illness or injury" "Relationships (such as parent-child or doctor-patient relationship).
The third condition is to make it clear that on-site first aid is not a professional rescue behavior, that is, the doctor-patient relationship between the doctor and the patient who went to see the doctor. Because this relationship itself determines that the doctor must treat the patient, it is not a "good man law." Category.
Who will protect doctors "out of scope"
Some people believe that it is illegal for doctors not to rescue patients in the hospital where they work, and to practice beyond the scope of practice.
Moreover, it is illegal for professionals who have not obtained the qualifications of doctors and practice to give first aid outside of the hospital. Therefore, accusing these people of doing nothing, or doing bad things with good intentions, will of course be criticized by public opinion and even punished by law.
On March 17, 2019, a passenger on the D3563 train from Guiyang to Beihai suffered a sudden illness. In an emergency, Chen Rui, a female doctor on the train, reached out to help in time.
But then the train staff asked Dr. Chen Rui to show his doctor's card and asked him to write a statement.
This incident tells us that even if doctors are not working in hospitals, they are risky.
Now, some netizens spoof the two medical students, claiming that they do not have medical qualification certificates, so the patients' families sued them.
The first part of this spoof is the fact that the two female medical students are both graduate students of Chengdu University of Traditional Chinese Medicine. They have neither the qualifications of a doctor nor the certificate of practice.
However, it is very simple to put it under the "Good Man Law". Just because they do not have medical qualifications and belong to ordinary people, they fully comply with the provisions of the "Good Man Law". If emergency rescues cause damage to patients, they will not bear legal responsibility.
What's more, there is no scientific conclusion to confirm whether they were wrong in saving people and whether it was related to the death of the rescued man.
In fact, people have seen through the video that the first aid operations of the two medical students are in compliance with the norms, no less than doctors with first aid experience.
And the investigation afterwards also proved that although they are only medical students, they have completed clinical internships, rescued patients, and have certain clinical practice experience.
This shows that their first aid operations are more professional.
On the other hand, even if they have graduated and obtained medical qualifications, rescuers at the train station are exempt from liability if an accident occurs.
According to the former Ministry of Health's "Interim Regulations on the Scope of Practice in Physician Practice Registration", a doctor who provides emergency medical rescue to a patient is not an out-of-scope practice, which means that doctors cannot be punished accordingly.
Fortunately, the family members of the man who died suddenly knew better than these spoofed netizens, and their inner goodness was as different as the spoofed netizens.
The family members stated that they must express their gratitude to the two medical students for their actions. It is unethical to comment casually without knowing the truth.
If the life-saving behavior of the two medical students is spoofed and approved, even if the two medical students are actually compensated, many people will not dare to reach out to save people if they encounter difficulties in the future.
I hope that the cognition and behavior of the family members of the deceased reflects the ethical bottom line of the people of today. Otherwise, if there are more people who spoof the two female medical students and praise them, the society we live in will be "unsaved". .
China News Weekly, Issue 33, 2020
Statement: The publication of "China News Weekly" manuscript is authorized in writing