‘Doctor’ stands trial in Henan for giving deadly drink to uni student
Print Edition
A MAN went on trial yesterday charged with the use of unauthorized medical treatments that caused the death last year of a university student.
In 2012, the suspect was released from prison after serving 12 years of a 15-year sentence for exactly the same crime.
The accused, 65-year-old Hu Wanlin, pleaded not guilty at the hearing at the Luoyang Intermediate People’s Court in central China’s Henan Province.
“I don’t know what illegal medical practice is and it is not important whether I have a doctor’s license or not. I just want to save people,” he said.
“Why blame the death (of the student) on me? You are letting me take the blame instead of the real criminal,” he said.
Hu is accused of killing 23-year-old Yun Xuchao, an architecture student in Zhengzhou, capital of Henan.
With the help of three “disciples” — Lu Wei, a 44-year-old jobless woman, 30-year-old Tang Mengjun and 50-year-old He Guizhi — Hu held a so-called TCM (traditional Chinese medicine) tutoring tour, prosecutors said.
During the trip, for which participants were charged 200 yuan (US$32.50), Hu led a group of 12 people to Xin’an County in Luoyang on August 31 last year, the court heard.
While there, Hu asked the group members to drink a “five-flavored soup” — made from coffee, sugar, salt, soy sauce and vinegar — followed by large amounts of water.
When they became bloated, the students were told to vomit, which Hu said was a good way to detoxify their bodies, the court heard.
However, Yun lost consciousness after drinking the concoction. Hu and his acolytes tried to revive him with more homemade medicines, and also poured cold water onto him, but the young man died at the scene, prosecutors said.
A postmortem showed Yun died of respiratory failure and dehydration after consuming mirabilite, a hydrous sodium sulfate.
Hu and his followers were arrested the following month.
Investigators found three bottles of mirabilite solution in Lu’s car. In an earlier interview, Hu said he made the solution, but in court he denied doing so.
“I lied to police. I planned to take the blame for Lu,” Hu said, adding that Lu was like a daughter to him. “But she bought the mirabilite.”
Lu denied the charge, saying the solution was made by Hu.
Hu also said it was Lu who organized the tutoring tour.
“She asked me to talk to people about my medical knowledge,” he said.
In 2000, Hu was given a 15-year prison term for unauthorized medical treatment, after three people died after taking his homemade medicines, which also contained mirabilite.
Yun’s parents have asked for 1.1 million yuan compensation, according to the People’s Daily website. The trial is ongoing.
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