Local custom, lack of regulation behind fetus, baby body abandonment: Experts

Experts said the dumping of 21 baby bodies and fetuses in a river in east China's Shandong Province was due to old local custom and a lack of regulation.

In some parts of China, especially in poor rural areas, parents are reluctant to take baby bodies home for a funeral. They would rather dump the body in a corner of the hospital or pay someone to bury it, said Ma Guanghai, deputy dean at Shandong University's School of Philosophy and Social Development.

If bodies are recovered from hospital corners, the hospital should register the identification of the dead baby, report it to the public security bureau, and hand them over for cremation.

Abandonment of the dead body was an outdated practice related to high death rate of babies in the past. A modern society that respects life cannot allow this type of abandonment anymore, Ma added.

Experts said regulation must be introduced as soon as possible to determine the legal status of infant bodies. Regulation that clarifies the procedures for dealing with the bodies in a respectful manner is needed, they added.

There is no legal definition for dead fetus in China, and it is not appropriate to classify it as medical waste, said Cao Yongfu, deputy director of the Medical Ethics Institute at Shandong University.

"There should be regulations for dealing with the infant bodies and dead fetus that comply with both laws and folk customs," he said. "Otherwise, there will always be loopholes for hospital management."


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