PEDIATRICS Vol. 97 No. 5 May 1996, pp. 745
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NEONATAL MEDICINE IN CHINA

In China, the financial costs of the technology of neonatal medicine are tremendous and intolerable, given our state of economic development. In addition, China is different from the United States culturally and socially. Three such factors are worth mentioning.

First, in China, lawyers have no right to intrude into medical matters ...

Second, the medical costs of treatment for children must be paid for by their parents ...

Third, China has a long tradition of Confucianism—about 2000 years. And in recent decades, we have Marxism. Both of these. . . have a holistic philosophy. By this, I mean that each individual is seen as a component of the whole society, the nation. Thus, each individual's interests should properly be subordinate to the interests of the whole society or nation ...

In China . . . if the physician insists on treating an infant with serious birth defects, the parents say "Yes, if you pay the cost." However, the income of the physician is roughly the same as the parents-in the $40 to $50 per month range.