4-month-old baby in China dies after doctor suggests 'tui na' massage instead of medicine

"My child is only four months old. She just went to the hospital because of a cough, now she's gone," a mother in Xi An, China, grieved.

Her daughter allegedly died as a result of a massage session on Nov 30, reported Hua Shang Daily.

Worried that their child was coughing, a couple brought their child to the doctor for a check-up.

Seeing as the child wasn't suffering from anything severe and taking into consideration the child's tender age, instead of administering medication or injections, the doctor suggested for the parents to bring their daughter to a Chinese doctor for a tui na (Chinese massage therapy) session.

"At that point, I was wondering if a massage was suitable for a four-month-old child, but because it was the doctor's suggestion and we don't understand, we followed his suggestion," the mother later recounted to reporters.

After the session, the parents noted that their child seemed as though she had fallen asleep.

"It was only when we were undressing her did we realised that she was foaming at the mouth and nose and there were traces of blood," the mother shares. "She was completely unresponsive, so we immediately called for an ambulance to rush her to the hospital."

The hospital noted that when the child was brought in, they found blood in the nasal cavity and by then, the child had no heartbeat and had ceased breathing.

Though they were able to resuscitate the child, she still had problems breathing on her own and was placed in the ICU for observation around 4.30 pm that same day. However, they were unable to preserve the child's life.

According to the child's death certificate, she had died as a result of multiple organ failure.

The parents claim that the Community Health Service Centre had yet to contact them since the incident, despite promising a reply by 10am yesterday (Dec 3).

They only managed to get in touch with the director earlier today, under the witness of the District Health Bureau. After proving that all their staff were certified professionals, the director told them that the hospital was in the midst of contacting a third party to handle the child's autopsy.

In order to investigate the reason behind their daughter's death, the parents had no choice but to agree.

A bureau spokesman said in a statement: "We will now wait for the final official investigation results to come out and we will handle the matter according to the procedures of major medical disputes. The family may also take this case to the court."

rainercheung@asiaone.com