Volunteer Patient Visitors Were Shocked by “Xiao Procedure”
Li-Hui Di, Science News (Chinese) Vol. 22, Nov. 23, 2009
Lin Liu is one of the volunteers who conducted a survey on the effectiveness of the “Xiao Procedure”, which was claimed by the inventor, Dr. Chuan-Guo Xiao, to have an overall success rate of 85% for treating the urology disease (spinal bifida) by surgery. During the week of November 10, she visited several patients who underwent the Xiao Procedure. Because the patients lived in different places, Lin Liu had to travel through a number of counties, from Chengdu to Meishan, Deyang, Guangyuan in Sichuan and then from Linfen to Gaoping in Shanxi province, in the cold snowy days. Upon her return on November 18, she was interviewed by the journal Science News (News).
“No patient was cured by the Xiao Procedure” she said, “On the contrary, the surgery may cause disabilities.”
Lin Liu told the News that she felt the patients looked spiritless and were living in pain. They did not know their diseases could not be cured even at the best hospitals in Beijing. In their hopeless waiting, they saw the propaganda (Xiao Procedure) from the official and most authoritative Chinese medium --- CCTV (the Chinese Center TV station). They would trust the reputation of Zhengzhou University Medical School and their experts too.
Lin Liu has visited four patients in total. None of them has been cured by the so-called Xiao Procedure and some of them were even permanently disabled by the surgeries. Two of the patients are still minors. The other two are 19 years old but they were also minors when they underwent spinal surgeries.
The boy patient in Meishan county could still walk by himself and even climbed stairs in the hospital before his surgery, in spite of a bit of deformity in his legs. But after the surgery in September 2007, his legs with parts of nerves cut off started to fester. Two years later, both of his two legs had to be amputated at a local hospital of Meishan.
His parents cherished great hope before the surgery because the hospital had promised them a success rate of 85%, which means most of the patients could get cured. They trusted the doctors because the doctors were kind and looked very trustful. After the boy was already on the operation bed, the parents were asked to sign a consent form right before the surgery, as if it were just a routine procedure. No explanation was offered, so they signed the form without understanding the risk of serious complications at all.
The second child in Shanxi province could walk as well before surgery, but is disabled now. After the surgery, the muscles of his feet and legs started to atrophy and now his lower extremities are apparently deformed. One year ago before surgery, it cost 1000 Chinese Yuan a year to buy diapers for his incontinence. But now, not only his legs are disabled, but also his previous incontinence gets more severe. In 2008, he visited the Jishuitan hospital in Beijing, and was told by the doctor that it was impossible to perform any further surgery on his legs.
The mother of the third kid in Deyang county felt lucky initially after the Xiao Procedure. Her kid was still very young and the case was not very severe before surgery. She was happy that the disease seemed to be cured a little and at least did not get worse as others after surgeries. But half a year later, the leg which was operated started to shrink and became thinner.
“The whole journey was very depressed,” Lin Liu said, “It was too cruel to ask questions about the patients.”
According to Liu, these kids who were harmed by the Xiao Procedure were less naughty or active, and were not curious about strangers, but kept silence to themselves. The parents always felt like to cry as they were telling these stories. “They were hopeful after the surgery, then their hopes were broken, and eventually they fall in despair. I could feel their pain.” Liu said to the News.
All the kids are lost from their schools and they do not want to go. One was in the middle school and gave up. He is just a small boy, but he can not walk, and can not play like other kids either, which is not convenient to him.
Lin Liu also said to News she will follow up more patients who were operated by the Xiao Procedure. She is looking for more evidences, in case that the management of the Xiao Procedure will argue in court that she were just looking for unsuccessful examples of the treatments. One patient call Little Shanshan was advertised by the doctors who promote the Xiao Procedure is not a successful operation either. “We are trying to find any successful ones, but we can’t.” she said.
About the family economy situation of the patients, Lin Liu told the News, the one in Meishan county is able to pay the operation fee, but the parents are very angry to the hospital, because they were cheated and harmed. They want to lawsuit the hospital is not only for returning of their costs. The kid in Deyang, his family has several kids and his operation fee was paid by his relatives. The one in Guangyuan also told to her that they want to lawsuit the Procedure is not for the operation fee either but they need the justice is done.
The last one in Shanxi province, his father was a coal mall worker and is lay-off now. This family is living in the cave of a mountain and has no heater in this cold winter. His father raises 30 pigs that why he needs to save the heater for the piggy cubs, otherwise they will get sick in the cold. He has finished high school and wanted to make the justice done as well.