Anchor:
Hello and welcome to another edition of "Frontline," the weekly feature program brought to you by China Radio International. I'm your host Wu Jia.

A period of four months was no lengthy time, but for a man named Wang Jinguo who lived in Jintan in China's eastern Jiangsu Province, it seemed an eternity because of the torment he and his wife had suffered. What happened? Let's follow Yang Lei to find out more.

Reporter:
Wang Jinguo was 47 years old, but he looked much older with his gray hair and face full of wrinkles. Every day, he had to run between his place of work and Jintan People's Hospital where his wife was lying unconscious.

"To tell the truth, I've cried so much that I have almost run out of tears."

Wang Jinguo said he had spent each night during the past four months in his wife's hospital room on a makeshift bed propped by a couple of stools.

The patients who shared the same room with Wang's wife said he didn't look so gaunt and lethargic the first time they saw him. But now stress seemed to have depleted him and turned his hair gray.

"He has all of a sudden turned old. He is so much worried that his hair has turned gray. When we first met him, he had dark hair and a chubby face. But now he is emaciated."

Anchor:
Actually, agony was not a strong enough word to describe the pain and sorrow Wang had been suffering. His wife, Yang Minglan, had been lying unconsciously in the hospital's ICU ward for the past four months. There was not even the slightest indication that she would regain consciousness.

Reporter:
Li Guomin was one of the doctors in charge of the ICU ward.

"She may occasionally open her eyes or cast a look at where a sound comes from, but there is no other response to any external stimulus."

Yang Minglan, who was also 47 years old, was dependent on a respirator.

Wang Jinguo said Yang had been a healthy woman before she was struck by sudden illness. The couple had worked at a poultry farm operated by Xingmu Agricultural Technology Company, a subsidiary of Changzhou Lihua Livestock and Poultry Company.

"She could easily lift a bag of feed that weighed 40 kilos, pour it into a big trough, and stir it to feed the chickens."

Anchor:
What on earth had happened that rendered the once healthy and strong woman so seriously ill? Many people may still remember the scorching heat that swept most parts of the country last summer. The average temperature in the city of Jintan on August 12 was as high as 38 degrees centigrade. Wang Jinguo said his wife felt very uncomfortable that day when she came home from work.

"I had been home earlier that day at noontime. When I saw she was back, I asked her to go to the dining hall with me so we could have lunch together. But she said she didn't want to go, because she felt dizzy and nauseous. I was not sure if she had a cold or a heatstroke."

Reporter:
It was not unusual for workers to sometimes feel sick and have no appetite during hot summer days, so Wang Jinguo did not take his wife's illness very seriously. Both he and his wife went back to work that afternoon. In the evening when he returned home, Wang found his wife lying in bed.

"Again I asked her to go for supper, but she said she felt unwell and weak, and she had a fever."

Wang went to a nearby pharmacy and bought some medicine. After taking the medicine, Yang said she felt a bit better and ate a small piece of moon cake. Then she went to bed again and soon fell asleep, only she never woke up.

Wang got up about 5 o'clock the next day and went to the poultry farm to feed the chickens. He returned to his dormitory at about 6 o'clock and was surprised to still see his wife in bed.

"I said 'It's almost 7 o'clock. Your work shift will begin in a moment. Why are you still in bed?' But she gave no response."

"I sensed something was wrong. I called her and pushed her, but she remained motionless."

Wang wasted no time getting his wife to a nearby clinic. Her body temperature was 42 degrees centigrade. Considering the severity of her condition, the clinic called the emergency center at Jintan People's Hospital. An ambulance soon arrived, and Yang was immediately rushed to the hospital.

"Her body temperature taken in our hospital was 42 degrees, the same as her temperature taken in the village. The temperature taken at the ICU was 40.9 degrees. After she was given an injection, her temperature dropped to 39.5 degrees."

Yang Minglan was diagnosed with severe heatstroke. The doctor said her high fever had burned her cerebral cells and caused severe brain injury.

Anchor:
The doctor said there was an extremely slight possibility that Yang would recover. The best thing that could be hoped for was that she would resume breathing on her own. It was very likely that the part of her brain that controlled respiratory functions had been permanently injured and that she would never be able to breathe on her own again without the assistance of a respirator and medicine. In that case, death could be imminent at any time. The only thing for sure was that the enormous medical bills would mire the poor family into an even direr plight.

"Her treatment bills include various items. In addition to the drugs, there are nursing fees, treatment fees, fees for handling numerous complications and so on. The daily cost is roughly 1,000 yuan. As we can't estimate how long she will be kept in the hospital, it's now difficult to sum up the total amount of the bill."

Reporter:
Wang Jinguo and his wife had been farmers before they left their hometown in Ankang in China's northwestern Shaanxi Province to work as migrant laborers in eastern China. In 2008, their son enrolled in a key university in another province, while their daughter started attending a top high school in Ankang city. With the financial burdens of tuition and school fees, the family had been living a hand-to-mouth existence.

"We could hardly make a living, and we were struggling for life from hand to mouth. That was why we left our hometown to work as migrant workers."

To support their children so they could finish their studies, the husband and wife went to Changzhou in Jiangsu Province and began working at the Xingmu Company in October 2008. The day Yang fell ill, Wang Jinguo borrowed 1,000 yuan from his boss. But this amount was even not enough to cover the cost of the emergency services. Upon learning about Yang's situation, the company gave her husband an advance payment to cover part of the cost of her medical bills.

"I would, of course, spend every penny I had to save her life. But now I have no money. We have left home for three years without going back. We pinch and scratch to save money in order to support our children's studies. My wife and I had never bought any clothing during the past three years. We have worn the same clothes at work and at home."

Anchor:
Wang Jinguo said no matter how difficult his life was, he could manage to brave it. But he was at a total loss about where to get the money to cover his wife's medical bills. Although the company where he and his wife worked had paid some of the medical costs at the beginning and their boss had promised that he would try his best to help them, things changed in September when the manager told Wang that the company could no longer afford his wife's medical bills.

Xu Qian was the manager of Xingmu Agricultural Technology Company.

"She was one of the workers in our company. We would, of course, try and we have in fact tried our best to save her life. That's why she was able to stay in the ICU for over three months and is now still in the hospital."

Reporter:
Xu Qian said Xingmu Company was a new enterprise set up at the beginning of this year. Its main business was raising chickens which had so far been unprofitable. Near the end of the year, the company suffered a total loss of more than a million yuan. It had covered 70,000 yuan of Yang Minglan's medical expenses, which was quite a considerable amount for a small company with merely 30 or so employees.

"We know her family's economic conditions, and we empathize with her. But our company is in a bad financial position. We have more than 30 other employees waiting to receive their wages."

Xu Qian said the company's financial difficulties were one of the reasons that it decided not to continue to pay Yang Minglan's medical fees. The other reason was that she suffered heatstroke in her dormitory not at work.

"I also live in one of the rooms in the same dormitory building. Although I am a manager, I also live in the same building."

Anchor:
Xu Qian said because Yang suffered from heatstroke while she was in her dormitory, it was difficult to determine whether her illness was work-related or resulted from her own physical weakness. He said it was unfair that the company had to cover all her medical expenses.

The company denied Wang Jinguo's allegation that Yang Minglan's injury was job-related. Realizing that the hope of securing payment for his wife's treatment had become even dimmer, Wang Jinguo went to the local labor department for help. Relevant government agencies of Jintan municipality, including the Labor Supervisory Department, soon began investigating the matter.

Reporter:
The Jintan Labor Supervisory Department first confirmed the de facto labor relationship between Xingmu Company as an employer and Yang Minglan as an employee. The department also confirmed Yang Minglan suffered from severe heatstroke, which had been listed as one of the occupational diseases induced by physical factors in the occupational disease catalog. According to the "Regulations on Work-Related Injuries" promulgated by the State Council, occupational disease falls under the category of work-related injuries. If Yang Minglan's illness could be proved to be related to her work, her medical expenses could hopefully be covered.

Li Hui was an officer at the Labor Supervisory Department.

"The labor department has stepped in and tried to reach a prompt reconciliation between the parties. We require the company to mind the employee's life and continue to bear her medical expenses."

Thanks to the coordination between the labor supervisory department, the company made some additional payments for Yang Minglan's medical expenses. The labor department in the meantime advised Wang Jinguo to apply on Yang's behalf for coverage of work-related injury as soon as possible.

Zhou Wei was an officer at the Human Resources and Social Security Bureau of Jintan Municipality.

"Yang Minglan's illness had been diagnosed as severe heatstroke. According to relevant laws, a certificate for diagnosis and appraisal of occupational disease must be obtained before having her condition identified as a work-related injury."

In September 2010, Wang Jinguo submitted an application on behalf of his wife to the Changzhou Disease Control Center for verification of occupational disease. Wang thought that because his wife had fallen ill as a result of her work for the company, it would not be difficult to have her condition identified as an occupational disease. But the matter was not as simple as that. According to the "Measures for the Administration of Diagnosis and Appraisal of Occupational Diseases" promulgated by the Ministry of Health, employers must submit truthful documents that verifying agencies require for the examination and appraisal of diseases invoking hazardous factors in the workplace. The application for verification of occupational disease will not be accepted if the applicant has never been exposed to the hazardous factors that invoke occupational disease or if physical examinations confirmed nothing is abnormal with the applicant.

Li Jun was a section chief at the Health Supervisory Department of Jintan Municipality.

"For the verification of occupational disease, the necessary documents must be submitted. According to relevant laws, the employer is the party that is supposed to submit the documents."

For heatstroke to be verified as an occupational disease, one of the conditions is that temperature in the workplace must be found to be more than 35 degrees centigrade. But the report given by Xingmu Company indicated that before Yang Minglan fell ill, she was cleaning the chicken house from August 10-12. It was not heavy work. Air conditioning equipment had been installed, and the temperature there had been kept between 28 to 32 degrees centigrade.

Wang Guohai was a doctor at the Disease Control Center of Changzhou Municipality.

"Occupational disease refers to the diseases contracted by the employees due to their exposure to harmful factors in the course of their work. If an employee falls ill due to reasons other than exposure to work-related hazards, the disease he or she suffers cannot be identified as an occupational disease."

Anchor:
Xinmu Company insisted that the temperature at the place where Yang Minglan had worked was no more than 32 degrees. She had never been exposed to the fatal heat that struck her down. Wang Jinguo abruptly denied what the company said in its report.

"It was sheer nonsense. It was a midsummer day. The chicken house was extremely hot and stuffy. The chickens had been moved out. She was told to clean up the chicken manure."

Reporter:
Wang Jinguo said the chicken coops were kept in shelters with iron roofs. During the summer the blazing sun made them extremely hot. At the time Yang Minglan worked there, the air conditioner had not been turned on. The temperature was far higher than 32 degrees.

"In the beginning my wife turned on the ventilation fan and the water spray curtain. But the manager came to scold her, saying it was a waste of company resources."

"When the chickens were inside, the ventilator was usually on to draw in the fresh air so that the place was not too stinky. The temperature inside was the same as the outside. When the chickens were moved, she was not allowed to turn on the machine. When the iron roof was baking in the sun, the heat inside was almost unbearable."

As the parties completely disagreed on what the temperature had been, the Health Supervisory Department went to Xingmu Company on September 16th for an investigation. But it had already been more than a month since Yang Minglan's heatstroke had left her in a coma.

"She had the heatstroke on August 12th. It was a hot midsummer day, and the recorded temperature on that day was 35 degrees. Now it is mid-September, and the temperature is about seven to eight degrees lower. At the time of our investigation, the temperature at the chicken house when she worked was 24.8 degrees."

Li Jun, Section Chief of the Health Supervisory Department, said when they went for a measurement of the temperature at the chicken house of Xingmu Company, the ventilator and the air control equipment were all in working order. With a change of time and circumstances, Li Jun said they were unable to simulate what the temperature was at the time Yang Minglan had the heatstroke.

On September 25th, 2010, the Changzhou Disease Control Center issued a written decision that it rejected Yang Minglan's application for verification of occupational disease for the reason that the temperature at the workplace at the time of the incident could not be measured.

"The verification agency must decide whether an application is accepted or not. Based on the conclusion drawn by the Jintan health bureau that no documents were made available as evidence of her exposure to occupational disease hazards, the verification agency decided not to accept her application."

Anchor:
If the agency had verified that Yang Minglan did suffer from a work-related injury, her medical expenses would be have been covered by the insurance company in accordance with the "Regulations on Insurance of Work-related Injuries." In that case, the company would have been relieved of its burden, and Yang's further treatment costs could hopefully have been secured. Such verification would have been good for both parties. But in spite of his relentless efforts, Wang Jinguo had so far been unable to have his wife's illness identified as work-related injury due to the company's reluctance to provide necessary documents.

"We learned from Xu Qian, Manager at the Xingmu Company, that no labor agreement had been signed between the company and Yang Minglan, although there indeed existed a de facto labor relationship between them."

Reporter:
The labor supervisory department had noted that Yang Minglan and her husband Wang Jinguo came to work in Xingmu Company in January. Until August, no written labor agreement had been signed between themselves and the company.

"Nor had the company purchased any insurance to cover the employees' pensions, work injuries or medical care. She could in no way rely on the insurance company to pay her medical bills. But with more bills piling up, her company, which had so far been her only source of income, had clearly expressed its inability to continue to pay."

Because of the lack of necessary documents, the Changzhou Disease Control Center issued a written decision turning down Yang Minglan's request for verification of her injury as being work-related. In October 2010, Xingmu Company made a final 20,000-yuan payment for Yang's medical expenses. The company had since refused to pay anything more. By the end of the year, Yang's medical bills that remained outstanding had amounted to as much as 80,000 yuan, leaving her husband in deep despair.

"Perhaps I have to give her up. Such thoughts make me sad. She's still young, and she's the mother of my children. Besides she can still breathe. I feel guilty that I don't have the money to save her life."

According to the law, an employer must sign a written contract with employees and must purchase necessary insurance for the employee. But in reality, it was nothing unusual for an employer to evade such an obligation and put employees at risk.

Wang Chunjun was a lawyer who had handled numerous labor dispute cases. He says many employers fail to purchase insurance for their employees. In the event of an accident, employers tend to provide documents to the employee's disadvantage, depriving them of the chance of having their injuries identified as being work-related.

"A business tends to maximize its profits and minimize its costs. If the employee's social insurance is well in place, the employer tends to truthfully provide evidence so that the employee gets paid by the insurance company. But in cases where the employer fails to buy his employee any insurance, which he often does, then he tends to maneuver or even doctor the evidence to evade his obligations. Yang Minglan was just one of the numerous similar examples."

Chen Jingtian was Vice President of the China Behavioral Law Association.

"The law stipulates that the employer shall provide documents concerning workplace environment at the time of an accident for the competent authority to evaluate whether the employer's injury is work-related. Once any injury or accident is confirmed to be work-related but not covered by any insurance, the employer will be made liable to pay all damages and costs. That's why the employer if having failed to buy insurance for the employee will tend to avoid providing necessary documents required for verification of the employee's injury as being related to work."

Anchor:
It takes time for the law to be improved, but Yang Minglan may not have the time to wait for it. Could there be any other remedy for the poor woman? Experts said arbitration or administrative proceedings could be undertaken to safeguard her rights and interests. While the law imposes penalties on employers for failure to sign labor contracts with employees or purchase insurance for them, more effective measures could be adopted to prevent such misdemeanors and offenses.

With that, we conclude this week's edition of "Frontline." If you have any comments or suggestions, don't hesitate to write to us either by e-mail or post. Our address is frontline@cri.com.cn. Alternatively, you can send a letter to: English Service, China Radio International, Beijing, China. The postal code is 100040. For program producer Zhao Jianfu, I am Wu Jia. Thanks for listening. Until next week, good-bye.