Notes on the case study by E. Li and C. Wen “Should the Confucian Family-Determination Model Be Rejected?”

This article describes a case that happened in a hospital in China, when a young lady on the 9th month of pregnancy came in and was diagnosed with severe pneumonia, followed by a sharp drop in cardiopulmonary function and general edema, and soon after arriving at the hospital went into coma. The doctors considered cesarian section as the optimal solution to save the lives of the mother and the baby, but the father of the child did not give his permission for the surgery, and the other relatives of the woman were hard to reach. Because the surgery had been postponed until the hospital could have consent from the family of the woman, both she and the child died. 

This story had given rise to much debate not only over the reasons the father of the child denied the surgery, but also whether the hospital had to take action without the consent of the family. In the end, the debate grew to become a critique of the whole system of Confucian family-determination, raising question whether it should be rejected altogether. 

This article argues that the confucian family-determination model should not be rejected. Instead, it offers adjustments to the rules and laws that apply to hospital doctors. The authors lay out the general cultural resources of the Confucian family-determination model that “functions well for hundreds of millions of ordinary medical cases in everyday life”. 

They explain why Confucian culture holds that the patient, as a member of the family, should not have an absolute right to informed consent as it is usually assumed in contemporary Western societies. At the same time, they acknowledge the right of the patient for informed consent.  Eventually, they conclude that the doctors should take action in cases of emergency without waiting for family’s permission.

The quote below represents sort of a punch line for the whole article, holding the conclusion to the reasoning presented in the text:

“Confucianism takes medicine as the art of benevolence. Physicians should cultivate the virtue of benevolence and place the patient’s interests above their own interests. Good physicians and hospitals should not be blocked by possible legal disputes from taking necessary actions to save their patients.” (11)

The system of family traditions that has been the core of the life of the Chinese people for hundreds of years and should not be dismissed, but rather it may be adjusted in such way that it would stand not only for traditions, but also for producing the greatest good for all parties involved, patients and hospitals.