Doctor's shame highlights lack of regulations
By Gillian Wong |
October 20, 2010, Wednesday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
AT one moment, the Chinese urologist seemed to be at the height of his career.
He had invented a surgical procedure to help patients overcome incontinence and was training doctors in America and elsewhere.
The next, Xiao Chuanguo was in handcuffs, confessing he'd hired thugs to attack two men who called him a fraud.
The scandal has shocked the public and prompted calls for better regulation of Chinese medical research.
Several former patients have complained about severe side effects, including a worsening of their mobility.
The Southern Weekly newspaper said poor regulations led to Xiao "treating patients as if they were voluntary lab mice."
Last week, a Beijing court sentenced the 54-year-old to five and a half months in detention for his role in the attacks.
Some American doctors consider his technique experimental but promising, and two US hospitals are carrying out trials. Others, though, are skeptical, particularly of claims of an 85 percent success rate.
"Nobody ever believed there was an 85 percent success rate, you know, and when you looked at his reports they were very short on details," said Dr Eric Kurzrock, chief of pediatric urology at the UC Davis Children's Hospital in Sacramento, California.
In China, Xiao forged ahead with surgery on hundreds of patients. Now, some are saying he exaggerated the chance of success and that surgery left them worse off.
Fang Zhouzi, who unearths examples of scientific fraud and posts them on his website, took on Xiao. Separately, journalist Fang Xuanchang also started writing critical pieces about Xiao.
The stakes were high for Xiao, who once told reporters he should win a Nobel Prize and who said the criticism had cost him membership of the Chinese Academy of Sciences.
In June, two men attacked the journalist Fang with metal pipes. Two months later, the other Fang was attacked with a chemical spray and a hammer.
Police arrested Xiao and he said he paid a relative 100,000 yuan (US$15,000) to hire the two men "just to give them black eyes and swollen faces."
Half a dozen patients and family members protested outside his trial, saying they represented 200 patients duped by Xiao into thinking their 30,000 yuan procedure had an 85 percent success rate.
Doctor's shame highlights lack of regulations
Gillian Wong
At one moment, the Chinese urologist seemed to be at the height of his career.
He had invented a surgical procedure to help patients overcome incontinence and was training doctors in America and elsewhere.
The next, Xiao Chuanguo was in handcuffs, confessing he'd hired thugs to attack two men who called him a fraud.
The scandal has shocked the public and prompted calls for better regulation of Chinese medical research.
Several former patients have complained about severe side effects, including a worsening of their mobility.
The Southern Weekly newspaper said poor regulations led to Xiao "treating patients as if they were voluntary lab mice."
Last week, a Beijing court sentenced the 54-year-old to five and a half months in detention for his role in the attacks.
Some American doctors consider his technique experimental but promising, and two US hospitals are carrying out trials. Others, though, are skeptical, particularly of claims of an 85 percent success rate.
"Nobody ever believed there was an 85 percent success rate, you know, and when you looked at his reports they were very short on details," said Dr Eric Kurzrock, chief of pediatric urology at the UC Davis Children's Hospital in Sacramento, California.
In China, Xiao forged ahead with surgery on hundreds of patients. Now, some are saying he exaggerated the chance of success and that surgery left them worse off.
Fang Zhouzi, who unearths examples of scientific fraud and posts them on his website, took on Xiao. Separately, journalist Fang Xuanchang also started writing critical pieces about Xiao.
The stakes were high for Xiao, who once told reporters he should win a Nobel Prize and who said the criticism had cost him membership of the Chinese Academy of Sciences.
In June, two men attacked the journalist Fang with metal pipes. Two months later, the other Fang was attacked with a chemical spray and a hammer.
Police arrested Xiao and he said he paid a relative 100,000 yuan (US$15,000) to hire the two men "just to give them black eyes and swollen faces."
Half a dozen patients and family members protested outside his trial, saying they represented 200 patients duped by Xiao into thinking their 30,000 yuan procedure had an 85 percent success rate.
He had invented a surgical procedure to help patients overcome incontinence and was training doctors in America and elsewhere.
The next, Xiao Chuanguo was in handcuffs, confessing he'd hired thugs to attack two men who called him a fraud.
The scandal has shocked the public and prompted calls for better regulation of Chinese medical research.
Several former patients have complained about severe side effects, including a worsening of their mobility.
The Southern Weekly newspaper said poor regulations led to Xiao "treating patients as if they were voluntary lab mice."
Last week, a Beijing court sentenced the 54-year-old to five and a half months in detention for his role in the attacks.
Some American doctors consider his technique experimental but promising, and two US hospitals are carrying out trials. Others, though, are skeptical, particularly of claims of an 85 percent success rate.
"Nobody ever believed there was an 85 percent success rate, you know, and when you looked at his reports they were very short on details," said Dr Eric Kurzrock, chief of pediatric urology at the UC Davis Children's Hospital in Sacramento, California.
In China, Xiao forged ahead with surgery on hundreds of patients. Now, some are saying he exaggerated the chance of success and that surgery left them worse off.
Fang Zhouzi, who unearths examples of scientific fraud and posts them on his website, took on Xiao. Separately, journalist Fang Xuanchang also started writing critical pieces about Xiao.
The stakes were high for Xiao, who once told reporters he should win a Nobel Prize and who said the criticism had cost him membership of the Chinese Academy of Sciences.
In June, two men attacked the journalist Fang with metal pipes. Two months later, the other Fang was attacked with a chemical spray and a hammer.
Police arrested Xiao and he said he paid a relative 100,000 yuan (US$15,000) to hire the two men "just to give them black eyes and swollen faces."
Half a dozen patients and family members protested outside his trial, saying they represented 200 patients duped by Xiao into thinking their 30,000 yuan procedure had an 85 percent success rate.
Doctor's shame highlights lack of regulations
Gillian Wong
At one moment, the Chinese urologist seemed to be at the height of his career.
He had invented a surgical procedure to help patients overcome incontinence and was training doctors in America and elsewhere.
The next, Xiao Chuanguo was in handcuffs, confessing he'd hired thugs to attack two men who called him a fraud.
The scandal has shocked the public and prompted calls for better regulation of Chinese medical research.
Several former patients have complained about severe side effects, including a worsening of their mobility.
The Southern Weekly newspaper said poor regulations led to Xiao "treating patients as if they were voluntary lab mice."
Last week, a Beijing court sentenced the 54-year-old to five and a half months in detention for his role in the attacks.
Some American doctors consider his technique experimental but promising, and two US hospitals are carrying out trials. Others, though, are skeptical, particularly of claims of an 85 percent success rate.
"Nobody ever believed there was an 85 percent success rate, you know, and when you looked at his reports they were very short on details," said Dr Eric Kurzrock, chief of pediatric urology at the UC Davis Children's Hospital in Sacramento, California.
In China, Xiao forged ahead with surgery on hundreds of patients. Now, some are saying he exaggerated the chance of success and that surgery left them worse off.
Fang Zhouzi, who unearths examples of scientific fraud and posts them on his website, took on Xiao. Separately, journalist Fang Xuanchang also started writing critical pieces about Xiao.
The stakes were high for Xiao, who once told reporters he should win a Nobel Prize and who said the criticism had cost him membership of the Chinese Academy of Sciences.
In June, two men attacked the journalist Fang with metal pipes. Two months later, the other Fang was attacked with a chemical spray and a hammer.
Police arrested Xiao and he said he paid a relative 100,000 yuan (US$15,000) to hire the two men "just to give them black eyes and swollen faces."
Half a dozen patients and family members protested outside his trial, saying they represented 200 patients duped by Xiao into thinking their 30,000 yuan procedure had an 85 percent success rate.
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