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Hospital to compensate girl for HIV infection from operation

( chinadaily.com.cn )

Updated: 2015-06-26

A hospital in East Chinas’ Fujian province and an official blood bank have agreed to a compensation deal of 777,000 yuan ($124,000) to a 5-year-old girl who was infected with HIV during a heart operation, reported Beijing Times Friday.

The Fuzhou Xiehe Hospital and the Fujian Blood Center will pay 231,000 yuan and 539,000 yuan, respectively, to Maomao, the victim, within the next 10 days based on the pact made on Thursday morning.

The two sides, after four rounds of negotiation that stretched for more than five months, reached consensus that there was a high probability that Maomao’s infection was from a blood donor who was in an HIV “window period”, a term for the 2-4 week window from infection before a test can detect the presence of the virus.

The hospital and the blood center, however, concluded that it was a “no-fault” medical accident and the one-off compensation was to put an end to disputes given the actual harm done to Maomao.

According to her parents, Maomao’s disease is under control now.

The girl who has congenital heart disease tested positive for HIV during a physical examination in September 2014.

After her parents were cleared of HIV infection, the only source of the virus they could think of was the operation Maomao had when she was eight months old.

The operation performed by the Fuzhou Xiehe Hospital in 2010 was declared to be a success at the time. But the parents said Maomao has been weak and prone to illness ever since.

Her condition worsened in Aug 2014 and she caught a very high fever. She was then diagnosed with the HIV infection.

Maomao’s medical fees exceeded 300,000 within four months and put the family in debt, according to earlier reports.

Believing the operation was to blame for their daughter's dire health, the family demanded a thorough investigation, which eventually led to the discovery of the HIV donor.

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