French hospital eats humble pie in spat with Vietnam media
A French hospital in Hanoi apologized to the Vietnamese media Friday for accusing it of incorrect reports on the hospital’s alleged negligence in treating patients.
Director of the L'Hôpital Français de Hanoi, Philippe Biberson, also pledged closer cooperation with the press “whenever anything happened”.
The apology came during a meeting organized by the Ministry of Culture and Information to patch up relations between the press and the hospital.
Media representatives asked the hospital at the meeting to withdraw complaints it had lodged to Prime Minister Phan Van Khai and National Assembly Chairman Nguyen Van An.
Biberson admitted there was a misunderstanding but remained silent on retracting the complaints.
Two scandals
Relations with the media began to sour following reports about a Hanoi woman’s charge that the hospital had removed a wrong ovary while operating on her and another woman’s complaint it had treated her 79-year-old husband carelessly, worsening his condition.
The health ministry inspected the cases last month and concluded the hospital did not remove the wrong ovary but pulled it up for using unauthorized forms and making corrections in medical files.
The hospital had failed to inform the patient properly, leading to a misunderstanding, the ministry added.
The ministry, however, has not verified the other woman’s claim.
By Lien Chau - Thanh Nien - June 16, 2006.
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