百度应为魏则西的死负责？

罹患软组织癌晚期的21岁大学生魏则西惨死事件近来在中国媒体上广泛传播。在被查出罹患滑膜肉瘤后，魏则西的家人通过百度搜索锁定了北京一家武警医院提供的试验性免疫疗法。而在魏则西去世前几天，他曾谴责百度根据广告商付费多少而对医学信息搜索进行索引排名，并痛斥这种做法形同“作恶”。

The tragic death of Weize Xi, a 21 year old student who was diagnosed with terminal soft tissue cancer, has been widely circulated on Chinese media. After his diagnosis with Sarcoma, his family found an experimental immunotherapy treatment at a Beijing hospital run by the armed police force via a Baidu search. A few days before he died, Wei accused Baidu of ranking medical information search results by the amount paid by advertisers, denouncing it as "evil". 

在魏则西惨死后，他的这些指控在网上引起强烈反响，导致愤怒的网民对百度口诛笔伐，声讨浪潮此起彼伏。一名愤怒的博主写道，“百度的无良行为完全是受利益驱使”；另一名网民则写道，“百度利润丰厚的网络营销业务无耻至极，它是杀害魏则西的凶手！”随着民愤不断高涨，中国当局亦插手介入，宣布将会同国家卫生主管部门和商业监管机构开始对百度进行联合调查。

Wei’s accusation has sparked heated outcry against Baidu following his tragic death. “Baidu’s unscrupulous activities were driven by profits”, write one angry blogger, “Baidu's lucrative online marketing business is distasteful and killed Mr. Xi!”, writes another. Amid mounting public anger, Chinese authorities intervened, announcing it has launched a joint investigation into Baidu with the country's health authorities and business regulators.

但是，将百度的营销手段与魏则西死亡直接挂钩，并因此对百度横加指责似乎毫无道理。众所周知，魏则西的癌症已到晚期，对于这种致命恶疾医生基本上不谈治愈，而最多也只是讲讲几年的生存率。在人类对抗癌症的征途中，艰难险阻随处可见，死亡更是平常之事，因此所有癌症患者都应该面对现实。

But such accusations that directly link Wei’s death with Baidu’s business practices seem quite unjustified. It is well known that Wei’s cancer was terminal, and in front of this vicious fatal disease, doctors’ don’t take about cure but only a few years of survival rate at the best. In the human war against cancer, setbacks are plenty and deaths are common, and all cancer patients should be realistic. 

相信人类已经找到攻克转移癌症的神奇疗法显然是非常天真。尽管医疗科学技术不断发展，但是能根除所有癌症，尤其是转移癌的灵丹妙药尚不存在，而包括免疫疗法在内的一些新技术也都处于起步阶段，还在进行早期临床试验。

It is naïve for anyone to believe that humanity has found a magic cure for metastatic cancers. Despite advanced medical science and technology, a magic pill to eradicate all cancers – especially metastatic cancers— is not in existence, and some new technologies – including immunotherapy— is in its infancy and early stages of clinical trials.  

这也可以解释为什么魏则西所寄予厚望的未经验证的免疫疗法未能为他提供他所期望的治疗效果。在魏则西指责医院或百度用花言巧语骗他上当之前，他原本就不应该对结果抱太高期望。  

That was why the unproven immunotherapy Wei believed in failed to provide him with the results he had expected.  Before Wei accused that the hospital or Baidu had deceived him by painting him a fraudulent rosy picture, he shouldn’t have held his hopes too high in the first place.

此外，制定一套癌症治疗方案具有相当的高难度，只有癌症专家才能胜任。放弃化疗寻求其它替代疗法是非常冒险的举动，任何人都不应该草率做出决定。

Further, developing a cancer treatment plan is a highly-skilled job and can only be performed by oncologists. Abandoning chemo and seeking alternative treatment was a very risky move and the decision shouldn’t be taken lightly. 

魏则西的癌症主治医生作了些什么？他的主治医生是否告诫过他改变治疗方案会带来哪些风险？他是否知道突然停止化疗很有可能导致癌症复发，让这一恶魔以更具毁灭性的状态卷土重来？

Where were Wei’s oncologists? Did his doctors advise him of the risks associated with changing the treatment plan? Was he aware that by suddenly stopping chemotherapy, it was very likely that the cancer would come back more aggressively?

 

无论互联网搜索引擎的市场营销手段有多无耻或不道德，魏则西（或其家人）在没有专业人士指导的情况下，竟如此轻易地让网络信息指导其治疗方案，并被网络搜索引擎的营销策略所左右，这一事实令我深感震惊不已。

I am quite shocked at the way the Wei (or his family) so deeply relied on the internet for treatment directions, and were so easily persuaded by the marketing practices of a search engine without professional guidance – regardless how unscrupulous or predatory these practices were.

在我们对他人严加指责前，首先应该理清事实真相。如果魏则西是因改变治疗方案的决定加速了他的死亡，那么人们应该谴责是其主治医生的疏忽失职，医院的虚假承诺，以及中国的医疗系统的混乱，而不是只将矛头对准并未直接涉及其癌症治疗的第三方。如果一个网络搜索引擎要对每一个用户的悲剧负责，那么所有网络引擎早就被用户告倒，不复存在了！在愤怒的指责浪潮不断高涨之际，我们应该冷静下来，以现实而理性的态度面对魏则西的死亡悲剧。

Before we make any serious accusations, we should get the facts straightened out. If Wei died much sooner resulting from his decision to switch treatments, then the negligence of Wei’s doctors, the fraudulent claim of the hospital, and chaotic Chinese medical system should bear the brunt of the blame, rather than a third party that did not directly get involved in Wei’s cancer treatment. If a search engine is responsible for every bad outcome of its users, then all the search engines would have been sued out of business altogether. Before the accusations and anger get escalated further, we all should calm down and face Wei’s tragedy in a realistic and rational way.