Ambulance personnel in central China were disciplined after refusing to treat a boy they had misdiagnosed as brain-dead, Hunan Economic Television Station (HETS) reported Friday.

The ambulance was called on the afternoon of May 8, after a 6-year-old boy nicknamed Pengpeng fell two stories onto concrete. He had been playing on the roof of his family’s home in a village near Changning, Hunan province. But the doctor on duty refused to provide first aid, insisting after a spot check that Pengpeng was brain-dead because he had dilated pupils and no vital signs, and was thus beyond saving.

“We laid the kid’s body on the ground, then I kneeled down to beg the doctor to save him,” Pengpeng’s grandmother told HETS. After the ambulance left, the family arranged their own transport and brought the boy to a hospital; on the way, Pengpeng reportedly showed signs of life. State news agency Xinhua reported Saturday that he was being treated and was still in a coma.

After an investigation, the Changning health and family planning bureau concluded that the doctor’s lack of clinical experience contributed to his misdiagnosis and non-proactive attitude. The authority suspended the doctor’s medical license for one year and deducted one month’s pay from him and three other medical staff, all of whom work for Changning People’s Hospital.

When contacted for comment, the hospital referred Sixth Tone to the local government’s publicity department, which could not be reached.

Lan Lan, head of Changsha No. 8 Hospital’s emergency department, told HETS, also based in Changsha, that even if a person’s heartbeat and breathing have stopped, brain death can only be diagnosed by examining brain waves. “You cannot evaluate this on the ground,” she said.

Editor: Kevin Schoenmakers.

(Header image: A view of the inside of an ambulance in Changde, Hunan province, Oct. 1, 2016. Chen Zide/VCG)