Burden of care proves to be too much for some

AN 8-YEAR-OLD GIRL in Nanjing, East China's Jiangsu province, was found dead in a local river in June. When her body was recovered bricks were found in the bag she had on her back. On July 25, the local police said she had been deliberately drowned by her father and grandfather, because she suffered from cerebral palsy and they considered her a burden on the family. Thepaper.cn comments:

Reports show that the girl came from a poor, rural family, which had spent at least half a million yuan ($73,363) on her treatment after she was diagnosed with cerebral palsy.

It was her grandmother that took care of her. Yet the grandmother had to undergo a surgical operation to treat cancer in June, and it was then that the grandfather and father allegedly killed her.

Now that the police have finished investigating the case, they are to stand trial soon.

However, the question is, how to prevent similar tragedies?

Children with cerebral palsy need large amounts of money for treatment, and many families cannot afford that. We do not mean to deny the responsibility of the father and grandfather, but it is really hard for many families to meet the cost of medical treatment, and for some it becomes an unbearable burden.
The government and society need to render more help to these families.

Maybe the practice in Japan can offer some food for thought. Based on an investigation in 2006, about 2,300 to 2,400 babies with cerebral palsy are born in Japan each year, which in the past aroused large numbers of medical lawsuits because quite a high percentage of them was caused by medical accidents. Obstetrics and gynaecology thus became a "high-risk profession", which led to a decline in number of Japanese obstetricians and gynaecologists.

As a result, Japan introduced social insurance in 2009, according to which pregnant women can choose to pay a small amount of additional money to the hospital before giving birth in case the baby suffers from cerebral palsy.

Whether caused by a medical accident or not, when a baby has cerebral palsy, the family gets enough compensation to support a disabled person. The latest data show that 99.9 percent of all pregnant women in Japan have paid the insurance when giving birth.

The responsibility of medical institutions and medical personnel is not exempted by the state compensation. If the parents are dissatisfied with the compensation, they can still file a civil lawsuit.

China should introduce a similar system to help the families in need, and prevent similar tragedies from happening again.