What is the world coming to?

In China, if you hit a person with your car and kill him or her, you pay a fine.  This fine is apparently far cheaper than the cost of ongoing care you must provide if you simply injure the person, so it is economically far better to kill a person you've hurt rather than try to rescue them.

This is why, says a Chinese driver, he ran over a toddler TWICE...to make sure she would be good and dead in case he got caught and had to pay her parents for killing her.  

Oh but this is just the beginning of the story.

In China it is a fact of life that you are always being watched.  Of course, CCTV caught the act, but the video continues to roll.....to reveal no fewer than 18 people looked at the half dead whimpering bleeding child and kept right on walking.  After 7 minutes of passers by casually walking by, the child is hit by a second truck who probably honestly didn't know the crumpled mess in the road was human.  It was after that time that a bag lady pulled the limp body out of the gutter.  And then the mother comes on the scene, screaming for her baby.  

There are so many elements to this story that seriously upset me.  How come it took the mother at least 8 minutes to arrive on the scene?  Where the hell was she?  Why was this toddler crossing a busy street alone?  Why did at least 18 people (on the camera) pass her by, looking right at her, without at least pulling her out of the road...or calling the police or an ambulance for that matter?  Why did the first driver hit her, stop, and then run her over a second time with his back wheels to make sure she was good and dead, preferring to consider his wallet over the life of a young child?  

China news reports say she is alive in critical condition.  Outside news agencies have proclaimed her brain dead and not likely to survive.  It's amazing she is not already toe tagged, and a tribute to the incredible resilience of babies... but even so, it's hard to imagine her little body ever fully recovering.  

As a parent (and a pregnant one at that), I have so many emotions...anger, mostly, but also fear for the safety of my family.  What if something happened to my husband while he was wandering the streets with my baby and no one helped him or my child (who of course couldn't help much himself and would be in danger as well without an adult watching him)?  And a deep deep sadness and feeling of despair for humanity in general. 

Because in all honesty, I can't say for certain this would never happen in the US, or anywhere else, that this is purely a Chinese problem.  I remember my Freshman year in college in Social Psych class learning about the Bystander Effect whereby the more people witness a horrific event, the less likely anyone will actually help a victim, as everyone simply waits for someone else to do something.  With 7 billion people in the world, that's alot of witnesses doing nothing at all.  But then, in philosophy class, I was told humans created a social contract to live together in order to protect themselves, seeking safety in numbers.  Are we as a human race safer alone or as part of a community?  

Many psychologists claim that one of the reasons mental disorders are on the rise is because we have become too isolated, even as we are more connected by the internet.  Yet the more we live with each other, the less likely we are to connect with each other.  Humans are full of paradoxes and nonsensical behavior.  I fear this incident, horrific as it is, is probably well known only because the Chinese Big Brother always has his eye on the masses, and so these events are recorded for others to watch and feel horrified.  I earnestly believe there are millions of people who died because their murderers would rather deal with a dead body than an injured one.  Who died in front of others who simply couldn't be bothered to step in and save them.  

Go ask Shanda Sharer, Kitty Genovese, any German over 70 years old.... the list goes on and on.

The Horror.  The Horror.

* Update: Oct 21, 2011: Little Yue Yuem, 2 years old, has passed away.  Shame on China.  I hope you do a lot of soul searching and honor her memory by treating someone else with more compassion. 

I love the renegade doctor!

Last week i had yet another appointment at TM hospital.  I see a different doctor every time.  this one i really liked, although he probably isn't popular at the hospital. 

When i went in to the room to see him, he did his prodding as per usual, checking the heartbeat, and then we got to business.

"According to the schedule, you need a glucose tolerance test.  how about next week?"

"But, doctor, i did that test already.  I'm fine."

"however, it is policy that we test you regularly for hypertension and diabetes because you are overweight"

" there is no family history of hypertension in my family, or diabetes.  i never had those problems with my first child. the urine samples are always perfect.  the glucose test makes me very ill.  And my blood pressure has been consistently under 120/80 this whole time. "

"that's true.  there is no medical reason to do these tests, so if you don't want them, that's OK."

Wow, a Chinese doctor that chose to listen to reason rather than follow protocol blindly! Hallelujah!  then he said:

"Your next appointment is in two weeks"

"In America, I only ever had appointments once a month.  Why do i have to come here so frequently?  this has been a very normal pregnancy and i hate having to take so much time off work."

"Well, there is absolutely no medical reason to have you come in so frequently. it's just hospital policy.  if you would rather wait 4 weeks until the next time, that's fine."

Woot!  Nothing but net! 

"But since you are Rh(-), you DO need to come in and get a shot of Rogain in a few weeks.  how's Monday the 31st of October?"

"Well, actually, Mondays are my most busy days at work, whereas Tuesdays I have much more free time.  it would be less troublesome to my school if i came in on Tuesday"

"OK, Tuesday it is then."

In all my time here in HK, I have never ever met a single person willing to actually decide something based on logic and reason, and here I was having a rational negotiation and won 3 out of 3!  this may seem like nothing, but every time i tried to make a request to skip a test or do a test on a different day, I have received nothing but grief, over and over, and never have i been allowed to choose when and how things get done.  Such is public hospital care here. 

i was so astounded by my good luck i forgot to ask him for a sick note to give to the office staff!  i was simply floating on cloud 9 i was so happy to find someone who would listen and respond to my needs...

if i thought he was going to deliver my child, i would be far less stressed over the whole delivery thing.  I know he lets people decide things based on rational discussions and reason, and personal preference, not on just what the rules are (which he agrees are arbitrary and not even medically based)......and that's just the person i want to work with.  If he told me I needed a medical intervention, i would be more willing to trust it's because it's necessary and not just because it's policy.   Too bad you can't request your doctor in public hospitals here.

But boy I bet he's not liked at the hospital.  He's probably considered a troublemaker for being able to think for himself and allowing patients autonomy.   he'll probably be fired by the time I go into labor.

  It's funny how the very same qualities some cultures admire are the ones other cultures despise.....