On The Hospital Liability In The "Li Li-Yun" Case Through Interpretation

Li Li-Yun who needed the caesarean in time was vital due to dystocia, but her husband refused to sign the surgery file. The hospital insisted that the surgery must be caused by signature according to Article 33 of Regulation on Administration of Medical Institutions. Then Li Li-Yun and her fetus died. The misunderstanding of hospital to Article 33 is the main reason for the accident, so the paper's purpose is to explain the real implication of Article 33, define the right-obligation relationship between the hospitals and patients as well as determine ultimately the hospital liability. In specific, the logical structure are as follows:Chapter one is devoted to the overview of interpretation. On one hand, the interpretation refers to the explanation for the statutory law, it is the activity of interpreter in understanding and accounting for the legal text. The interpreter is individual or organization engaged in interpretation activities. In these activities, the specific object of interpretation is legal text. The target of interpretation is to explore and clarify the intent of laws by explaining the legal text. On the other hand, the interpretation is prerequisite of application of law. Interpretation is the secondary legislation because of its creativity. It makes the interpreter active rather than passive. It could stimulate greatly the enthusiasm of judges as well as enhance the quality of the judges.Chapter two analyzes the hospital liability through literal interpretation. Literal interpretation refers to explanation of the value and content of laws in accordance with the meaning and the usage of legal provision. Article 33 with 3 clauses is divided into two parts. The first part applying for general case contains the first and second clauses, as well as the second part applying for specific case contains the third clause. There are two progressive levels for the first part:the patient and his relatives or related parties have the ability of declaration of intention and haven't. The second part is also divided into two aspects:firstly, the hospital undertakes the statutory obligation to treat patient as he hasn't the ability of declaration of intention and there is no presence with his relative and related parties; secondly, the hospital undertakes the same obligation when there is else specific cases besides the above in the first. In "Li Li-Yun" case, when she did not determine and express formally because she was unconscious at stake, her relatives or related parties was present. So the author believes that the hospital should give the emergency treatment to Li Li-Yun by caesarean according to the rules of specific case in the third clause of Article 33.Chapter three analyzes the hospital liability through systematic interpretation. Systematic interpretation refers to explanation of the meaning of legal provision through its status in legal system and the meaning of relevant articles. The first method is to interpret based on the Regulation on Administration of Medical Institutions. The articles from one to five are the programmatic rules to guide the whole regulation. The author concludes according to Articles one to five that there is one goal to all articles of Regulation on Administration of Medical Institutions, which ensures the medical institution guarantee the civil rights on life and health. The second method is to interpret based on Law of the Republic of China on Medical Practitioners. Article 24 prescribes that doctors should adopt emergency measure to examine and treat patients who are suffering from acute disease or dangerously ill and shall not refuse to give emergency treatment. The legal validity of Law of the Republic of China on Medical Practitioners is superior to Regulation on Administration of Medical Institutions', so when the conflicts between them occur, the former should be applied as a priority. The third method is to interpret based on The Regulation on the Handling of Medical Accidents. In "Li Li-Yun" case, hospital did not give caesarean surgery to her for avoiding medical accident, however, combining this Regulation with Regulation on Administration of Medical Institutions, the author learns that to give patients who suffer from acute disease emergency treatment abiding severely by technical norm does not cause the medical accident no matter what happens to patients. The last is the constitutional interpretation as a special systematic interpretation that demands the any interpretation result in accordance with Constitution. "The State respects and preserves human rights" is basic spirit in China's Constitution. The life is the basis to enjoy all rights, which must be respected and preserved in the first instance, so interpreting Article 33 should take it as the primary goal.Chapter four analyzes the hospital liability through teleological interpretation. Teleological interpretation refers to explanation of the implication of legal provision through exploring the legislative purpose of legal texts and the specific articles. Article 33 prescribes the operation-signature regulation, which is with legislative purpose in two aspects:protecting the right of informed consent of patient, right of life-health, and preventing the abuse of the medical power. The most important character of the right of informed consent of patient is to respect of the patients' autonomy of his will. The relative signature is only a supporting regulation to assure the performance of the right of informed consent. Uninformed consent treatment of emergency as valuable complement, which is to protect the right of life-heath at best, is one of the legislative purposes of operation-signature regulation. Furthermore, taking the strong position of hospitals into account, the legislation try to prevent their power.Chapter five analyzes the hospital liability through sociological interpretation. Sociological interpretation is that considering the social factors such as social effect to explain the meaning of legal texts under contemporary society. At present, there are some crucial issues in reality of China, such as difficulty for treatment, high expense for medicine and the disharmonious relationship between doctors and patients. In "Li Li-Yun" case, based on the situation of taking the preservation for vulnerable groups such as migrant workers into consideration, the hospital's opinion is fallacious. Caesarean, as the most effective remedy, is legal obligation of hospital.