This article comes from the public number: Story FM (ID: story_fm) , author: Zhang Chao, Liang Ke, Zhang Chao title figure from
A little over a week ago, a director of a public welfare documentary sent us a long message. He made a documentary about pneumoconiosis patients, hoping we can download and watch this film, and pay more attention to this long-neglected group.
This reminds me of the “open chest and lung examination” incident in 2009. The news made a sensation across the country: A worker with pneumoconiosis was forced to make an amazing The decision also paid a huge price.
Now, more than ten years have passed, and we have decided to interview the person involved in this incident, Zhang Haichao again.
Make hard money, get hard work
I am from Henan. In April 2004, I entered a factory here. Its name was “Zhengzhou Zhendong Wear-resistant Material Co., Ltd.”.
■ Workers are moving goods
I was assigned to a type of work called “crusher”, whose main job is to crush the raw material “silica” in the factory and process it into granules.
The working environment was very bad at that time. When the machine was operating normally, people in our workshop were not able to distinguish people from each other, and visibility was very low.
We will issue a simple filter paper mask every month, which is our only protective measure. Every day after work, take off the mask, our nostrils are all dusty, and the spit is also very dirty.
But at that time, we were not particularly worried, after all, the protection awareness was relatively weak, thinking that as long as the spit was spit out, it would not be a big deal.
My body is experiencing symptomsIn July and August of 2007, cough and chest tightness. At the beginning, I was treated according to the cold and it was not good for a long time. After going to the hospital, I was treated for tuberculosis for another year, but it was still not good.
In November 2008, Zhengzhou Infectious Disease Hospital organized an expert consultation to rule out the possibility of “pulmonary tuberculosis” for me. At that time, the doctor inquired about my working environment and judged that I might have an occupational disease. This is the first time I have heard the term “occupational disease”.
Pneumoconiosis is an occupational disease, a disease caused by dust inhaled into the lungs during work. It is an irreversible and irreversible disease. Once it becomes ill, it will accompany it for life. When the disease is severe, it can lead to loss of labor capacity and eventually die of respiratory failure.
■ lung images of patients with pneumoconiosis
■ Normal lung section (left) and lung section of pneumoconiosis patients
What should I do to prove that I am sick?
When the doctor told me that I might have pneumoconiosis, I could n’t believe it. I told the doctor that as early as January 6, 2007, I took part in the physical examination organized by the unit. The person in charge at that time clearly told me that my body was completely normal.
The doctor suggested that I go to the employer to get back the medical examination report at that time and compare it with the hospital. After I went to the unit, they refused to provide me with the report. Later, a section chief at a local epidemic prevention station kindly suggested that I go to the village to issue a certificate to prove that he had worked in that unit, and he could lend me the report for comparison.
When I got the 2007 medical examination report, it was abruptly written the conclusion: pneumoconiosis (with a question mark next to it) , It is recommended to review.
Obviously, in my condition, the employer concealed the facts.
For the purpose of the review, I went to Beijing, and I checked in many hospitals including Peking Union Medical College Hospital, Beijing Chaoyang Hospital, Beijing Coal Hospital, and the Third Affiliated Hospital of Beijing Capital Medical University. The result was Consistent: pneumoconiosis.
But the problem is that occupational diseases are a special kind of disease, not that patients can get treatment directly as long as they are diagnosed in a regular hospital.
According to the relevant regulations of our country on the diagnosis of occupational diseases, such diseases need to comply with the so-called “territorial management” principle, that is, patients need to return to the location of the employer to seek a diagnosis. Moreover, only a small number of hospitals and institutions with relevant qualifications are eligible to issue diagnostic certificates.
That is to say, even though I have been examined in several top three hospitals in Beijing, I still have no way to prove that I have pneumoconiosis. As a result, I can neither get compensation for work-related injuries nor cure the disease.
So, I went back to Zhengzhou and found Zhengzhou Occupational Disease Prevention and Treatment Center. The staff told me that to do the diagnosis of occupational diseases, first of all, the employer is required to produce occupational history, dust exposure history, environmental monitoring reports over the years, and my medical examination report during work.
When I found the employer and requested the above materials, the other party refused to cooperate. Later, when I tried to communicate again, I was bombarded by the security guard.
So, I started a long petition and went to the health bureau, labor department, and petition department to complain every day. After persisting for a few months, there was finally a result. The secretary of the municipal party committee at that time asked me to go directly to the identification of occupational disease prevention and treatment. If it was indeed pneumoconiosis, the petition department would coordinate with it.
On May 28th, the staff of the Occupational Disease Prevention Office notified me to get the diagnosis. The next day, I went to the prevention center. The last line of the diagnosis report reads: It is recommended to treat tuberculosis.
I said that the diagnosis was wrong. At the very least, I had an expert consultation at the Zhengzhou Infectious Disease Hospital, and tuberculosis has been ruled out.
The staff said that we made the diagnosis strictly in accordance with the standards of the “Occupational Disease Identification Management Measures”, and we will not be wrong.
I asked again, what if I am not satisfied with the diagnosis?
He said, you can apply for occupational disease identification. This is subject to approval by the health administrative department.
So, I went to the District Health Bureau first, and they had never heard of how to approve this matter. I went to the city health bureau again, and they did not know which department should handle the matter, but they still accepted my application.
On June 9th, I got the examination and approval document for occupational disease identification, and brought the identification fee of 7,000 yuan to the Zhengzhou Occupational Disease Identification Committee. But the problem is that the appraisal committee and the occupational disease prevention and treatment center that gave me the incorrect diagnosis report are in a unit, and the staff who treat me are the same. I hesitated at the time.
Later, I gave up the identification and went to the Department of Respiratory Medicine of the First Affiliated Hospital of Zhengzhou University. The outpatient doctor is already very familiar with me. I didn’t even read the inspection report, so I said, you don’t have to toss, you must be pneumoconiosis.
I showed the report of the Occupational Disease Control Center to the doctor, and he didn’t know what to say. And my condition has been delayed for too long, so I was hospitalized here first.
Actually, these days when I defended my rights, my physical condition has deteriorated. I have asthma, cough, and phlegm. I ca n’t breathe when I talk to people.
As for my family, the children are still young, and their parents are not very affluent. Since these days, the family ’s deposits have long been spent,He owed tens of thousands of dollars in debt. What I want is to get a recognized diagnosis as soon as possible, so that I can get compensation from the employer and start treating the disease according to the right conditions.
Open the chest, check the lungs
On June 15th, the doctor told me that they had completely ruled out the possibility of my tuberculosis. As for pneumoconiosis, because the occupational disease prevention and treatment center had already made a diagnosis, they did not dare to make a conclusion.
I asked the doctor if I wanted to go further, what could I do?
He said that he could obtain a specimen from the lungs for a biopsy through thoracoscopic surgery. It’s really not possible, you can also open the chest to take specimens. However, this kind of thoracotomy biopsy operation is very risky. It is a very traumatic operation. In the process of opening the chest, it may cause infection, and there are some complications. In severe cases, it may even be life-threatening.
But I still insist on this operation. For me, the operation is nothing more than two results: either pneumoconiosis, so good, at least I can finally start treating the disease without having to wait for death; if not, then I can accept it.
So, I went home to find a way to borrow more than 10,000 yuan in surgical expenses and made this risky decision.
The thoracotomy was performed on June 22. Before the operation, my sister is required to sign and agree. She hesitated again and again, but still signed.
The operation started around 12 noon. When I woke up, it was already more than 6 pm. The attending doctor came to see me in the ward and said, half-jokingly, “strong congratulations, Haichao, you are pneumoconiosis.”
Belated justice
After the operation of “open chest lung test”, my lung function decreased even more. Due to economic constraints, I did not use a pain pump, and I did not exercise well just after the operation, which caused a sticking on the lungs, which caused a great impact.
But the problem has not been resolved. Because the First Affiliated Hospital of Zhengzhou University did not have the qualification to diagnose occupational diseases, the attending doctor asked my sister to contact the Henan Provincial Occupational Disease Hospital and took the specimen obtained in the operation to go there for another biopsy. However, Henan Provincial Occupational Disease Hospital rejected this proposal.
Finally, in desperation, my attending doctor wrote me a dustThe diagnosis result of lung infection, let me take this diagnosis to the petition department and ask for coordination. However, the Office of Letters and Visits reported that they only recognized the results of the Zhengzhou Occupational Disease Prevention and Treatment Center, and they did not recognize the medical certificates given elsewhere.
So, I had to contact the media to seek exposure.
■ Zhang Haichao was interviewed by the media after “opening the chest and examining the lungs”
On July 10, 2009, “Oriental Jinbao” reported “My Workers Persist in Occupational Diseases and Persist in Open Chest Examination” to report on my rights protection experience. Soon, this news caused a sensation in the country, and the Zhengzhou Municipal Health Bureau also established a supervision group to intervene in the investigation.
At the end of July, I was identified as the third stage of pneumoconiosis by the Xinmi City Labor Bureau of Henan Province, and the responsible persons of various institutions that I encountered in the process of defending rights were also held accountable.
■ On July 25, Zhang Haichao held a light film to prove that he had pneumoconiosis
■ On July 27, Zhang Haichao showed a new diagnosis certificate
Almost at the same time, the First Affiliated Hospital of Zhengzhou University, who had taken the risk of performing an “open chest examination” for me, violated the “Occupational Disease Prevention Law” because of the “unauthorized diagnosis” and was criticized by the Henan Provincial Health Department .
At the time, five other workers besides me were diagnosed with occupational diseases. Next, we entered the compensation process.
During the claim process, there were no opportunities for ventilation between these workers and me. Afterwards, I learned that several of them were under pressure from the village, saying that if they struggled with me again, the family’s “minimum living allowance” would be stopped. And the compensation they finally got was also high and low.
In September, my compensation was settled. According to the result of consultation between my lawyer and the employer and the labor department, the total compensation I received was 1.2 million.
If someone paid attention to the progress of this news in the past, there may be a vague impression: In the media reports at that time, I received a compensation of 615,000 yuan.
This is how things are. After the compensation amount was fixed, our local administrative departments and employers considered that there were a large number of people diagnosed with occupational diseases at that time, and worried that after my compensation amount was announced, the follow-up work would not be carried out well. Therefore, on September 16, I received the first batch of compensation, which is 615,000 yuan. They asked me to publish this figure externally, and only then would I get the remaining compensation.
So, on the same day, I informed the media that I received a compensation of RMB 615,000. The next day, my bank account received the remaining compensation as scheduled.
■ After receiving the compensation, Zhang Haichao began to receive treatment
Poor disease
After receiving the compensation, I went for a lung washing operation as soon as possible. But the next treatment is a bottomless hole, a 1.2 million bottomless hole that is far from filled.
Pneumoconiosis is a “poor disease” in the true sense. The reason why its patients are willing to endure the extremely bad working environment is because of the financial difficulties. But working in such an environment, they will further “become poor due to illness” due to the endless medical expenses of pneumoconiosis.
■ Stills of the movie “I am not a drug god”
The most serious condition was in the second half of 2012. At that time, my lung function was still deteriorating. At the end of the year, I went to a field to help a worker defending rights, and later participated in a series of public welfare activities.
I’m from my hometown in Henan at the end of the twelfth lunar month. At that time, I felt panting. On the third night of the first month, I already felt out of breath and went to the hospital early the next morning. After the examination, I learned that my symptom was a common complication of pneumoconiosis-“pneumothorax”. In other words, my lungs broke a hole, and the gas in the lungs leaked into the chest cavity, pressing on the lungs, making it impossible to breathe normally.
After the examination, I received intubation. However, after being treated like this for several months, my pneumothorax was still not completely cured.
April 13, The doctor suggested that I consider lung transplantation. For the sake of quality of life, or for survival, I agree.
As the name implies, “lung transplant surgery” is to implant allogeneic healthy lungs into the body to replace the lost lungs. This is a very complicated operation, with a high risk of infection, difficult care, and high costs for patients. After the operation, plus the money spent on treatment, medication and debt repayment in the past two years, I only have more than 300,000 in compensation.
■ Before the lung transplant operation, Zhang Haichao left a picture for himself
After the operation, although my lung function has been restored to a certain extent and I can maintain a normal life, it does not mean that the pneumoconiosis is cured. After the lung transplant operation, patients need to take anti-rejection drugs for life, twice a day, and the current monthly cost is about six or seven thousand yuan. Once the medication is stopped, the patient will be in danger of life within three or four days.
In 2014, I contracted a bus and became a bus driver. My daily income is about more than 100 yuan, but just taking anti-rejection drugs, I need to spend more than 200 yuan a day. Coupled with the daily expenses at home, no matter how hard I work, I can’t make ends meet.
■ Zhang Haichao is on the way out of the car
They are more unfortunate than me
Although life is so hard, I still understand that among the pneumoconiosis patients in China, I am lucky enough compared to others.
Remember that in 2012, I met a critically ill patient in the same city and became familiar with him because of a lawsuit. Later, a reporter contacted me, hoping to interview a serious pneumoconiosis patient to understand their current status, and I took her to interview the patient.
The day we interviewed him, he was still in hospital. During the interview, his condition looked pretty good. However, just two hours after we left, the family sent bad news: people are no longer good.
In these years, I have experienced too many life and death like this. Many pneumoconiosis patients are suffocated to death at the end of their lives. Some of them have no money and no oxygen generators, so they can only return home at the end.
In 2018, also because of the opportunity of public welfare interviews, I visited a patient in Neixiang County, Henan. He didn’t know how much time he had left, only that his savings had been used up, and all his relatives and friends had borrowed. In the end, with only 1,000 yuan left, he gave up treatment and bought himself a coffin.
He said that the child is still young, only 14 years old, if one day he is suddenly gone, the child may not even have money to buy the coffin.
More tragic than these, some pneumoconiosis patients feel that they are too painful, and they ca n’t bear to drag down their family members. Some people drink pesticides and some jump off the building.
Ten years later, our situation is still difficult
Over the years,Thanks to the efforts of the organization, more and more pneumoconiosis patients have been rescued, and the state ’s policies on work-related injury compensation and insurance have also been improved to a certain extent.
However, in the diagnosis of occupational diseases, the situation faced by pneumoconiosis patients has not improved compared with my “open chest examination”. On the contrary, in a sense, the situation is even worse.
For example, at the time of 2009, if a pneumoconiosis patient went to a general hospital for a diagnosis, some doctors would give a vague diagnosis of “suspected pneumoconiosis” at least orally or in writing. But over the years, due to the impact of various social events, more and more doctors are afraid to tell the truth because they are afraid of “provoking trouble.”
For example, in 2016, a pneumoconiosis patient in Jiangsu had no diagnosis and went to a hospital in Beijing. At that time, he kept his eyes open and recorded the process of the doctor’s oral expression of his illness.
After returning to his hometown, he took a recording and found the local authorities. Whether the doctor who diagnosed the occupational disease was due to human factors or lack of experience, such a diagnosis result was absolutely unfair to me. Unfortunately, the doctor in Beijing was badly affected by this recording incident.
Because of incidents like this happening constantly, the diagnosis of occupational diseases is still very difficult.
■ A pneumoconiosis patient in Guizhou shows his “pneumoconiosis syndrome” picture / “China Daily”
I hope our children will not repeat the same mistakes
In 2011, my wife and I separated and raised my daughter alone. In 2013, my mother had a cerebral infarction again. Soon after, my father was also diagnosed with mild cerebral infarction. In this way, three patients and a child depend on each other.
Over the years, Many of the patients I know who had lung transplants are gone, some three years, some five years. I also do n’t know how long I can persist. I just hope to raise my daughter as much as possible.
My daughter is 14 years old this year, and her grades in junior high school are okay. I hope to create a good condition for her as much as possible so that she can pass the exam and find her way out.
Actually, many pneumoconiosis patients have my thoughts. They know very well that the reason why they choose a bad working environment is because they have no culture. Therefore, we especially hope that our next generation will be educated and will not repeat the same mistakes.
Over the years, I have found that I have more and more white hair. The compensation has long been spent, and now we can only borrow money to buy medicine. I don’t know how long I can last, sometimes I just feel lucky to be alive. Some people say that there is hope in life. But for me, it’s still very difficult, and I can only persuade myself to stand up every day.
■ The medicine Zhang Haichao takes
For pneumoconiosis patients, in addition to medical expenses, the most important thing is the education expenses of their children. In addition, for mid-to-late costs, an oxygen generator can also sustain their lives for a longer period of time.
At present, domestic charity organizations that focus on patients with pneumoconiosis, such as “Daiqing Qingchen” and “Shanghai Yuanli Charity Foundation”, can basically provide assistance in these areas. If you want to know more about and help this group, you can also follow these charity organizations.
Cover image and unspecified source images are provided by the narrator
This article is from the public account: , author: Zhang Chao, Liang Ke