In 2004, after the false advertising case in Beijing Xinxing Hospital, "How to regulate the advertising behavior of private hospitals" once triggered a national discussion. The case of Huaxia Hospital in Hangzhou has attracted national attention, and this problem has surfaced again.
Nightmare of 38 patients
According to media reports, in July and August, 2005, Hangzhou Huaxia Hospital released medical advertisements in the media to promote its newly launched "minimally invasive surgery for immune balance adjustment". The advertisement declared that "the joint pain was obviously relieved or disappeared 24 hours after operation, and the activity function of the diseased part recovered two or three days later", and "only one operation is needed for lifelong health". From July to 165438+ 10, 38 patients underwent the operation. They didn't expect that what was waiting for them was greater pain: after paying a total of 255,000 yuan for treatment, these patients not only failed to recover, but also developed symptoms such as hoarseness, cough and nausea to varying degrees. The worst patients can't even take care of themselves.
Just as 38 patients were suffering from illness, they were shocked by a news: as early as July, Hangzhou Huaxia Hospital released an advertisement, which Hangzhou Industrial and Commercial Bureau found to be suspected of false propaganda. In September, it was ordered to stop publishing and fined 1 ten thousand yuan. Knowing this news, the patients were furious and filed a mediation application with the Health Bureau of Jianggan District, Hangzhou on June 5438+065438+ 10. After mediation, the two parties reached an agreement at the end of February at 65438+, and Hangzhou Huaxia Hospital will provide free treatment and review, and refund all medical expenses.
Everything seems to be going well, but after the mediation results came out, Hangzhou Huaxia Hospital came up with an agreement, publicly demanding that these patients give up all other rights while receiving hospital treatment, and promised not to mention anything. The promised "return all medical expenses" became "return a part". In order to treat the disease, patients were forced to sign an agreement, but even so, they did not fully recover. At the beginning of March this year, they jointly complained to the Zhejiang Provincial Administration for Industry and Commerce. After investigation, the Administration for Industry and Commerce concluded that the advertisement of Huaxia Hospital in Hangzhou deceived and misled consumers, which was a typical false medical advertisement and was transferred to the public security department for trial.
Private hospitals have developed rapidly
The rapid development of private hospitals in recent years is an important reason why the false advertisements of Huaxia Hospital in Hangzhou have attracted so much attention.
Liang Xu, chairman of the Private Hospital Committee of Beijing Hospital Association, told the reporter that private hospitals are also called non-public hospitals, and the funds for running hospitals mainly come from social funds, not government investment. At present, there are more than 2,200 private medical institutions and 250 hospitals in Beijing alone, compared with dozens before 2000. The information revealed at the National Private Hospital Management Annual Meeting and Private Hospital Integrity Development Forum in 2005 shows that there are nearly 4,000 private hospitals in China, not including small private medical institutions such as clinics.
Guo Xiaohui, vice president of Peking University No.1 Hospital, pointed out that many private hospitals can provide better services than public hospitals because they are profitable, which is also the main reason why they can take root in cities. In underdeveloped areas or on the edge of big cities, medical resources are relatively insufficient, and private hospitals just fill this vacancy. For migrant workers and other people without medical insurance, private hospitals are also a new choice.
What are the tricks of false medical advertisements?
However, due to the false advertisements of individual hospitals, this new medical model has attracted many questions. The reporter learned that in 2005, 25 of the 26 hospital violations in Shanghai occurred in private hospitals, and the main problem was false advertisements. To this end, the US Food and Drug Administration in Shanghai has identified private hospitals as the key targets for rectification this year. Judging from the supervision of the health and industrial and commercial departments last year, "using false advertisements to induce patients" is also one of the key issues.
So, what are the tricks of these false medical advertisements, and how should patients distinguish them?
The most common and easiest trick to fool patients is to "exaggerate the curative effect" and make the success rate of treatment close to or even reach 100%. For example, Hangzhou Huaxia Hospital used the slogan "You will be healthy for life with only one operation" in the advertisement. Zhao Chun, secretary general of China Hospital Management Association Private Branch, told reporters that the core of medical advertisements is curative effect, but from the perspective of medical law, the most difficult thing to guarantee is curative effect. Everyone's situation is different, and the same drug or operation will definitely have different effects on different people. A drug or surgery can hardly guarantee a cure rate of more than 95%. Liang Xu said that as long as you see such words as "radical cure", "best" and "guarantee curative effect", it must be false advertising, because such words are not allowed in the advertising law.
In addition to exaggerating the curative effect, some private hospitals will also use the following fraudulent means in advertisements: First, exaggerate the qualifications of experts. According to the statistics of Zhejiang Provincial Health Department, 12.05% of the medical staff in Zhejiang private hospitals are attending doctors, while those with secondary school education are as high as 46.94%. Doctors are not qualified enough to attract patients, so they have to rely on advertisements to promote them. Wang Zhiyi, the chief surgeon of Huaxia Hospital, was promoted to dean in the advertisement and served as the director of the top three hospitals; However, after investigation by the relevant departments, it was found that this person was a surgeon in the hospital of Hebei Xinxing Cast Pipe Co., Ltd. and registered in Hangzhou Huaxia Hospital last year. The second is to exaggerate the strength and give the general department the name of "diagnosis and treatment center", which shows that the hospital scale and strength are good. According to the regulations, the name of the department advertised by the hospital must be consistent with the name of the licensed department, and there can be no typo.
In addition, some experts pointed out that using high-tech words to fool patients and make the equipment extremely advanced is also a common deception method for false medical advertisements.
Why are false medical advertisements flooding?
Why do private hospitals always make false medical advertisements, and where are the living soil of these advertisements? Liang Xu believes that there are mainly the following reasons:
The first is the starting point. Some private hospitals are developed from social medical services and are not standardized. Some started from contracting departments, and their strength was not enough, so they were forcibly upgraded to hospitals. In addition, some hospitals are run by businessmen from other industries. These people don't understand medical rules and regulations, which will inevitably lead to irregularities.
Second, many private hospitals have insufficient financial strength. Therefore, they choose routine treatment subjects such as andrology, gynecology and dermatology, which are "not very profitable". In order to attract more tourists, false propaganda was adopted.
Third, some advertisers are in cahoots with the media. At present, the advertising revenue of many media mainly comes from medical advertisements, and some even account for more than 60%. A large number of advertising companies rely on medical advertisements to survive. Some advertising companies and media release false medical advertisements for profit.
How to manage advertisements in private hospitals
Liang Xu told reporters that at present, medical advertisers are mainly made by some contracted departments of private hospitals and public hospitals, so the focus of supervision is still on advertisements of private hospitals.
The first is to increase penalties. Liang Xu believes that in foreign countries, once false medical advertisements are found, the responsible party may be fined. In China, fines are often only tens of thousands of yuan, and some hospitals even include fines for false advertisements in cost accounting. Therefore, heavy punishment is a necessary means to eliminate false medical advertisements.
The second is to strengthen supervision. It is reported that since the second half of last year, due to various reasons, there has been a regulatory vacuum in western medicine advertisements in Zhejiang, which can be released without review. Zhao Chun pointed out that the health department should check the contents of advertisements, and the industrial and commercial department should check whether advertisements meet the examination and approval of the health department.
The third is to improve the running level of private hospitals and make them have enough confidence in their own medical quality, which is the most fundamental way to solve false medical advertisements. The first is talent: Guangdong experts pointed out when discussing private hospitals that most of the medical staff in private hospitals are retired or newly graduated doctors from public hospitals, and many of them are from factories and mines. Secondly, the hospital equipment and management level, many private hospitals can not meet the requirements of the health sector. Guo Xiaohui said that foreign private hospitals are supported by foundations and consortia, while public hospitals in China have state investment, which private hospitals do not have. The financial strength directly affects the level of equipment, the scale of running hospitals and the talent reserve, so it is necessary to increase investment in private hospitals.
Finally, experts said that it is very important to popularize medical knowledge in order to put an end to false medical advertisements. Only by letting the people know that responsible doctors and hospitals will not really guarantee "radical cure" and "cure diseases" can false advertisements lose their "folk foundation" and eventually die out.