James
I am a scientist working in the US. I occasionally participate in the work of New Threads therefore I consider myself as one of New Threads Volunteers. I cannot speak for other volunteers but I try to adhere to all ethical and scientific standards, let alone local laws, when conducting my volunteer work. Most of the work exposing fraudulent claims did not require high levels of expertise in the particular field, but only a general understanding of proper scientific conduct. In the case of Dr. Xiao, carrying out an unproven experimental surgical procedure on thousands of patients while charging them for several times of their annual income is at least unethical - it is not clear whether it is illegal because in China the approval standards for such procedures are quite different than in the US. As far as whether Dr. Xiao made any fraudulent claims, consider that the total number of patients reported in Dr. Xiao's peer reviewed articles is vastly different than the number reported in publicity materials. Dr. Xiao's own hospital once claimed that the procedure had been operated on ten thousand patients. One does not need a medical degree to see that something is seriously wrong there. It is quite possible that hospitals who are starting clinical trials have been misled by the claims of high success rates that had no factual basis.

But all these are beside the point. Dr. Xiao resorted to violence against his critics. In any civil society this cannot be acceptable and must be punished by law. How can one blame the victims for his actions? It seems to me that the attacks against us are from people who have a vested interest in the procedure itself. And these doctors have forgotten that their first responsibility is to the patients.