Advanced liver cancer patient Yao Ce from East China's Jiangxi Province won a lawsuit against Huaihe Hospital of Henan University which was ordered to compensate Yao and his biological parents 760,000 yuan ($116,457) in total for switching Yao with another child at birth by mistake 28 years ago.
Kaifeng Gulou People's Court in Central China's Henan Province pronounced the judgment of the first trial on Monday. Yao was compensated 200,000 yuan for mental injuries and 361,312 yuan in medical expenses and other fees. His biological parents were compensated 200,000 yuan for mental injuries and 7,593.5 yuan in transportation fees and lost wages.
According to the chief judge, the hospital should be liable for mental damages after its mistake caused huge trauma to Yao and his parents. It should also bear 60 percent of the civil compensation liability for Yao's current reasonable losses due to liver cancer.
Yao and his biological parents originally claimed 1.8 million yuan in total for mental damage compensation.
Yao's lawyer, Zhou Zhaocheng, believes the judgment basically supported the plaintiff's appeals, and Zhou personally agreed with the judgment.
"It marked a breakthrough for the court to double the amount of mental injury compensation for Yao compared with the mental injury compensation for his parents, showing the court is in favor of Yao," Zhou said.
Meanwhile, Yao originally claimed 916,947.81 yuan in compensation for the tort liability dispute with the hospital. However, he failed to provide related medical certificates. The court finally ruled that the hospital should bear 60 percent of the civil compensation liability for part of the amount that was proven by evidence.
Many Chinese web users questioned the justice of the judgment and thought the amount of compensation is far from satisfactory. "The hospital should at least compensate all of Yao's medical treatment fees," a netizen commented on Weibo. "The serious mistake made by the hospital ruined two families and it only compensated such an amount, don't they feel guilty?" another commented.
Although the amount of compensation supported by the court was not much, the court determined 60 percent of the civil compensation liability by the hospital, so that Yao can still further claim compensations for his follow-up medical treatment which is expected to free Yao from future worries, Zhou said.
In regard to whether Yao would appeal and when, Zhou said that decision will be made by the plaintiffs.
