Liao Dan, an unemployed 41-year-old man, was accused of defrauding Beijing Hospital of 172,000 yuan in medical expenses in order to save his seriously ill wife. However, with the help of public donations, he repaid the money at Dongcheng District People's Court on July 17, 2012, with the hope of receiving a more lenient sentence.

Liao was arrested on Feb. 21 and released on bail on Mar. 8 before standing trial on July 11, accused of duplicating the hospital's seal and using it to make fake receipts for his wife's blood dialysis treatments. Liao's wife, Du Jinling, suffers from uremia. At trial Liao admitted the offences, which spanned the time period from November 2007 to September 2011. The total cost of the treatments was about 172,000 yuan (US$27,300). The prosecutor suggested that Liao be sentenced to between 3 and 10 years in prison and the judge told Liao that he could return home to take care of his wife, but he must promise to return to court when summoned.

Explaining his actions, Liao said that both he and his wife are unemployed with a 12-year-old son, and that his wife, who is from Hebei Province, does not have permanent residency in Beijing, which means that she does not qualify for medical insurance in the capital. Liao was compelled to make the fake official hospital seal due to the fact that the couple couldn't afford the medical fees to continue his wife's dialysis treatments, which came to more than 5,000 yuan a month.

Liao's trial and predicament was soon picked up and exposed by Chinese media and has become a hot topic for discussion. Since the start of the trial, more than 1.58 million people on the Sina micro-blogging website have joined the discussion, with many criticizing the country's current medical system. Many offered donations to help Liao and his wife and as of July 17, donations had exceeded 400,000 yuan. Among the donors was Chen Lihao, a member of Guangdong Province's Zhuhai Standing Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference. Chen offered Liao 170,000 yuan.

Liao has formally authorized the China Foundation for Social Assistance to oversee the fund and ensure that all funds are used only for the specified purpose. Liao's first use of the donated funds was to pay his outstanding debt to the hospital. Chen confirmed to the Beijing Morning Post that Liao had paid his medical fees in their entirety, to the tune of all 172,000 yuan. He made the payment to the District People's Court on the morning of July 17. Liao said the remaining donations will be used for his family's living expenses.

Commenting on the fortunate turn of events for him and his family, Liao said that he was lucky that so many kind people had taken note of his family's plight and decided to help. He vowed to continue caring for his wife if he was granted leniency by the court.

Many netizens have argued that the court should reduce Liao's sentence and give him support and donations. However, Yi Shenghua, a lawyer from the Yingke Law Firm who has followed the case closely, does not think that Liao will be given probation said public opinion should not be allowed to sway the court.

(China.org.cn by Li Jingrong July 19, 2012)

廖丹是一名北京下崗工人，他為救患有重癥的妻子，私刻醫(yī)院收費章，四年間涉嫌騙取北京醫(yī)院17.2萬元醫(yī)療費。然而，在眾多網(wǎng)民的支持幫助下，7月17日廖丹已將這筆款項退還東城區(qū)人民法院，希望法院能對其從輕判處。

廖丹于2月21日被逮捕，3月8日獲保釋，7月11日再次出庭受審，他被指控私刻醫(yī)院印章用于制作假發(fā)票，以支付身患尿毒癥的妻子杜金領血液透析所需費用。廖丹對自己2007年11月至2011年9月期間的犯罪正事實供認不違。治療費用共計17.2萬元人民幣（約27,300美元）。檢方建議廖丹被判處3至10年有期徒刑，法官說廖丹可以暫時回家照顧他的妻子，但他必須保證在法院傳喚時準時出庭。

廖丹說他和妻子都已下崗，他們有一個12歲的兒子。他的妻子來自河北省，沒有北京戶口，不能享受北京市醫(yī)療保險，夫妻二人根本負擔不起每月5000多元的醫(yī)療費。廖丹因此不得不私刻公章制作假發(fā)票以維持妻子的透析治療。

廖丹的困境和他所面臨的審判很快被媒體曝光，成為熱點話題。自開庭以來，已有158萬網(wǎng)民在新浪微博網(wǎng)站加入討論，很多網(wǎng)民批評現(xiàn)行的醫(yī)療體制，還有很多網(wǎng)民為廖丹夫婦捐款。截至7月17日，捐款總數(shù)已超過40萬元。其中廣東省珠海市政協(xié)委員陳利浩給廖丹捐贈17萬元人民幣。

廖丹正式授權由中華社會救助基金會全程執(zhí)行這筆善款，專款專用。他決定將捐款首先用于支付所欠的醫(yī)院費用。陳利浩已向《北京晨報》證實，廖丹已于7月17日上午將全部17.2萬元欠款送交東城區(qū)人民法院。廖丹說其余的捐款將用作家人的生活費。

廖丹說這一切對他來說是一個轉(zhuǎn)機，因為有這么多善良的人們在幫助他的家。他說如果自已能得到從輕處罰，將會盡心照顧妻子。

許多網(wǎng)民說，法院應該對廖丹從輕判決，并給予他幫助和捐款。然而，密切關注該案件發(fā)展的北京盈科律師事務所律師易勝華認為廖丹不會得到緩刑，他說民意不應允動搖法庭的判決。