Jan 24, 2005, P 8

Grief for brain-dead girl unites Taiwanese
Four-year-old dies two weeks after being beaten by father and rejected by hospitals
By Lawrence Chung
Taiwan Correspondent

TAIPEI - MOST Taiwanese forgot their political differences yesterday to grieve for a four-year-old girl finally declared brain dead after two weeks of fruitless treatment.

A group of doctors and prosecutors determined the girl - denied treatment by several hospitals in Taipei after being severely beaten by her drunken father - was brain dead and said her heart, livers and kidneys would be donated to others 'with the agreement of her parents'.

Soon after the announcement by Mr Tung Jui-nien, head of the Tungs' Metro Harbor Hospital in Taichung, operations began to save the girl's vital organs for designated recipients.

Her tearful mother had taken about 24 hours to agree to signing the organ-donation letter.

'Before she signed, she touched the girl's little hands, her feet and body again and again,' said a second hospital spokesman.

The media reported that her father, awaiting trial in jail over the case, had tremblingly said he regretted what he had done to the girl, surnamed Chiu, when told of her possible brain death on Saturday. He will now face a manslaughter charge.

Dozens of concerned parents - total strangers to the girl - who had gathered outside her hospital room cried upon hearing she could not live.

Cards, flowers and toys from well-wishers had packed the girl's room since Jan 10 when news of her plight broke over local television.

It detailed how the father had smashed her against a wall until she fell into a coma and how she had subsequently been rejected by Taipei hospitals.

Six hours were wasted before the girl was finally admitted to the Metro Harbor Hospital. Later it was discovered there had been rooms available in Taipei's other hospitals.

Two doctors from Jen-Ai Hospital, where the girl was sent immediately after the violence, could be facing a jail term. They were on duty on Jan 10 but decided not to admit the girl.

The reports sparked a public uproar, forcing Taipei Mayor Ma Ying-jeou to replace the city's health director and cancel his own trip to Australia, his popularity dented.

A sullen Mr Ma said yesterday: 'This unfortunate case has triggered public concern over the severity of the child-abuse problem...and the need to reform Taiwan's medical system.'

But he said Chiu's brief life had not been a waste if every Taiwanese could learn a lesson from her tragedy.

Mr Ma's city government has ordered that no hospital in Taipei is to arbitrarily transfer seriously ill or injured patients.

A welfare system has also been set up to help abused children and ensure good hospital treatment.

On Saturday, President Chen Shui-bian, a political rival of Mr Ma, urged government agencies to apply to the hilt laws and regulations on children's welfare and provide youngsters with better health care and treatment.


i hate it when pple say e words highlighted in pink.....we learn a lesson fr a tragedy....do things have 2 turn bad b4 we can learn smething? i hate tis rationale.....