The Taichung District Court has found an obstetrician guilty of negligence during childbirth, which led to the death of a newborn. The doctor had noticed the presence of meconium in the mother’s amniotic fluid but failed to change the procedure to a cesarean delivery. The newborn contracted septic shock and died. Though no criminal charges have been filed, the hospital and doctor will have to pay more than NT$14 million in damages to the family. Of that amount, NT$11 million is to compensate for the money that the child would have presumably spent on supporting the parents in old age. The case has been the source of much public debate. Let’s hear from two experts.

Yang Che-wei
Lawyer
The parents would’ve been able to ask their child for support, but now they’ve been deprived of that. On this point, the court ruling isn’t that different from mainstream opinion. The question is more about whether the amount spent on raising the child should be deducted from the payment.

Huang Jian-pei
Taiwan Association of Obstetrics and Gynecology
This may be the first time ever that the compensation has been calculated this way. It doesn’t make sense and it could be best described as a response to public outrage. Actually, the current clinical practice is that a C-section is not required if only meconium is detected. If it were performed, it wouldn’t be covered under health insurance. If this ruling causes C-sections to be mandatory for all births where meconium is found, it could give rise to bigger problems. In more than 95% of cases of meconium-stained amniotic fluid, we proceed with natural birth and both mother and child end up safe and sound.

Losing a child at birth is a tragedy hard to overcome, but the medical community fears that the verdict could be a blow to dedicated doctors who work hard to save lives. Experts say it could cause doctors to choose more conservative procedures in the future, or even scare off medical students from high-risk specialties. They say that in the end, the victim would be Taiwan’s medical system.

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