Hong Kong Medical Watchdog Finds Paediatrician Guilty in Case of Paralyzed Child

After 16 years, Li Zhijian and his wife Peng Hongying have finally found a measure of closure in their long pursuit of justice over a medical blunder that left their son paralysed for life in Hong Kong.

But the mainland Chinese couple said their fight for accountability was far from over, despite a ruling by the city’s medical watchdog that found a paediatrician guilty of professional misconduct in his care of their son, Li Yuanjian.

“We can only say that we can accept it, and we can find some closure and put this behind us,” the father told the South China Morning Post.

“But if you’re asking whether we’re satisfied, we are definitely not. No matter what the verdict is, we won’t be satisfied because our son is left like this for the rest of his life, and his health can never be restored.”

A Medical Council inquiry panel convicted Dr Sit Sou-chi on July 5 of failing to carry out all necessary and immediate investigations on newborn Yuanjian after he suffered a seizure on December 22, 2009, at Baptist Hospital in Kowloon Tong.

Yuanjian, who was three days old when he had the seizure, was left with cerebral palsy and quadriplegia and is unable to care for himself.