A Study of Public Consciousness of Consumers’ Rights from Newspaper Reporting on Medical Malpractice

• Main Authors: Mon-jing Chou, 周孟瑾
• Other Authors: JIOU-WU CHEN
• Format: Others
• Language: zh-TW
• Published: 2007
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/15057708677403157885

碩士 === 高雄醫學大學 === 行為科學研究所碩士班 === 95 === This study focus on the annual medical malpractice that Consumers’ Foundation has been most concerned about. Through the event-related news, boilerplate and editorials on the newspaper and their layout, this study explores the expression of consumers’ rights during the developing process of the media, in order to understand the public consciousness of consumers’ right about the medical environment in Taiwan. Accordingly, this study adopts the method of content analysis to analyze the news reporting on the newspaper in the objective, systematical, and both quantitative and qualitative way. This study selects three medical disputes—the disputes of Veterans General Hospital, Bei-Chien Hospital and Ren-Ai Hospital. The result is as follows: I. The result of this study reveals that “Focus/Headline/Important News” has the highest ratio, representing that the three events received most attention from the media. II. As to the quality of the news reporting about the three events, “straight news” has the highest ratio, revealing that the major task of the media is to present the fact. III. As the reporting topic of the three events, “the cause and solution of the event” has the highest ratio, revealing that the media focused on the cause of the medical disputes and also emphasized the reporting that providing or suggesting the relative solution after the disputes took place. IV. About the dimension of the news reporting, the reporting of the three events tends to present the fact. The reporting also paid attention to other dimension, although they have low ratio. V. About the reporting of consumers’ rights, the study found: a. in the reporting of the Veterans General Hospital, it is the right to redress, to be informed and to a healthy environment that has the highest ratio. Whereas, it is the right to safety, to a healthy environment and to redress that has the highest ratio in the reporting of the Bei-Chien Hospital event. As to the event of Ren-Ai Hospital, it is the right to basic needs, to a healthy environment and to be informed has the highest ratio in the reporting; b. In the three medical disputes, the right to choose was seldom reported, so it extremely needs our medical system to pay attention to; c. To sum up, the right to a healthy environment has the highest ratio in the reporting of the three events.