Injured patients sue hospital after eye surgeries

Sixteen patients are taking legal action against a hospital in Beijing, claiming it used substandard medical gas that injured their eyes.

The trial against Peking University Third Hospital began at the Haidian District People's Court in northwestern Beijing on Friday.

The hospital claimed that there was no malpractice and the injuries were caused by substandard gas. The hospital said in court that it is willing to cover all medical expenses despite the fact that it was not at fault.

The patients demanded a medical malpractice assessment to determine compensation. They also asked the hospital to publicize details about the medicine, Liu Wenfang, a Beijing lawyer responsible for the patients, was quoted as saying by Beijing News.

In an earlier statement, the hospital said 45 of the 56 patients who used the same batch of perflutren - used during eye surgery as temporary filler in the hospital in June 2015 - had been left with severe injuries to their eyes.

Meanwhile, the hospital is filing a lawsuit against the company that produced the gas, Tianjin Jingming New Technological Development.

Another 26 patients who underwent eye surgery in June at the Affiliated Hospital of Nantong University in Nantong, Jiangsu province, where the same batch of gas was used, have also had adverse reactions.

The China Food and Drug Administration said in a report in January that the administration sent two teams to Peking University Third Hospital and Affiliated Hospital of Nantong University in July after receiving reports of the incidents and ruled out irregularities during the surgeries.

The injuries were suspected to have been caused by toxic reactions of the gas, the report said.

The patients and two hospitals have been pushing the gas provider to give information about its products, but nothing has been made public yet.

The CFDA said the same batch of product was sold to 25 provinces, municipalities and autonomous regions in China and 621 boxes were used by 82 hospitals, in addition to the two hospitals, but no other injuries were reported. The manufacturer recalled all 8,632 boxes suspected of having problems in July to eliminate risks, it said.

Local authorities in Tianjin imposed a fine of 5.18 million yuan ($798,000) on the company for producing substandard medical products, and confiscated all the perflutren it produced.