In China, Brain Surgery Is Pushed on the Mentally Ill

The Wall Street Journal ^ | November 2, 2007 | By Nicholas Zamiska

[JACKRUSSELL]

(NANJING, China) -- Mi Zhantao, a poor 25-year-old living with his parents outside this provincial capital in eastern China, was battling depression and had trouble socializing. Doctors said he had schizophrenia. They recommended brain surgery.

Mr. Mi's family spent about $4,800 -- the equivalent of four years' income, and more than their life savings -- on the operation, at No. 454 Hospital of the People's Liberation Army in Nanjing. The highly controversial procedure involved drilling tiny holes in the young man's skull, inserting a 7?-inch-long needle and burning small areas of brain tissue thought to be causing his problems.

The surgeon, who operated on Mr. Mi the day he met him, says he has performed nearly 1,000 such procedures, mostly for schizophrenia, but also for illnesses ranging from depression to epilepsy, since the hospital started offering the operation in 2004.

Mr. Mi's parents say the surgery did nothing but leave their son with a partially limp right arm and slurred speech. He continues to be depressed and withdrawn, his mother says. Wang Yifang, the surgeon, says he checked the medical records and, as far as he knows, the patient left the hospital uninjured.

Mr. Mi's mother, Kong Lingxia, 50, says she'll regret the decision for the rest of her life. "I feel so angry," she says. "But I'm really angry at myself. How could I let this happen?"

The irreversible brain surgeries performed at No. 454 Hospital, which are all but blacklisted for mental illness in the developed world, are being done across China. They are a symptom of the problems plaguing the nation's health-care system, which has left hospitals with scant public funding and hungry for profit.

Some foreign doctors were shocked when told of the number of surgeries Dr. Wang has performed and the problems he was trying......

[JACKRUSSELL]

No. 454 Hospital promotes the surgery aggressively, printing pamphlets featuring success stories, and runs a hotline patients can call for more information. The doctor who performs the procedures at the hospital says the surgery works for 93% of patients.



In China, a highly-controversial procedure that involves burning parts of the brain is being heavily prescribed for myriad psychiatric problems. Dr. Wang Yifang, head of neurosurgery at 454 Hospital of the People's Liberation Army in Nanjing, has performed nearly 1,000 of the surgeries since 2004.



An article that ran in Yangtse Evening News, a local newspaper in Jiangsu province, in July 2004, touted the benefits of the brain surgery offered at No. 454 Hospital and helped convince Mr. Mi's parents that the procedure could help their son. The same article persuaded the family of Deng Jian, left, to look into the surgery for their daughter. Ms. Deng, who was diagnosed with schizophrenia, hasn't been able to walk on her own since the operation. Her family sued the hospital for damages and won an award of more than 360,000 yuan.



Mi Zhantao, 25, second from left, was battling depression and had trouble socializing. Doctors said he might have schizophrenia. Within hours of meeting the man, surgeons drilled tiny holes in the young man's skull, inserting a 19-centimeter-long needle and burning small areas of brain tissue thought to be causing the young man's problems.

[JACKRUSSELL]

”Made in China” Ping.

(Please FReepmail me if you would like to be on or off of the list.)

[JACKRUSSELL]

China “medical” ping.

[PGalt]

Thanks for posting.

[G8 Diplomat]

In China, Brain Surgery Is Pushed on the Mentally Ill

So why isn't the entire Communist Party in line at the hospital for brain surgery?

[Clintonfatigued]

China had been upheld as a model both educationally and economically. Turns out what’s behind the Bamboo Curtain does not live up to those headlines.

[kinoxi]

The highly controversial procedure involved drilling tiny holes in the young man's skull, inserting a 7?-inch-long needle and burning small areas of brain tissue thought to be causing his problems.

... 'but my brain itches'... (scratch,scratch)

[ClearCase_guy]

I think they got the idea from the Kennedys.

[gridlock]

Yeah, they’re all quacks... But the health care is free!

[PGR88]

Spend some time walking the streets of China. I guarantee you will not see one retarded, downs syndrome or congenitally deformed child. What happened to them all?

[Aliska]

I was thinking along those lines, too. I don't think they do lobotomies any more, and don't know if they do shock treatments so much either. As of 15 years ago, they were still doing the latter.

This doctor needs his brain operated on. Permanently. Maybe it isn't true, but I wouldn't be surprised if it were.

[ikka]

Spend some time walking the streets of China. I guarantee you will not see one retarded, downs syndrome or congenitally deformed child. What happened to them all?

They are kept indoors?

[pray4liberty]

I guarantee you will not see one retarded, downs syndrome or congenitally deformed child. What happened to them all?

They disappear in the middle of the night and their organs are sold.

[Eye of Unk]

Brain surgery of the future.

[samtheman]

Hell Hole Ping

[chuckles]

The depression will leave when the leave China.

[valkyry1]

Spend some time walking the streets of China. I guarantee you will not see one retarded, downs syndrome or congenitally deformed child. What happened to them all?

Organ extraction may be a source. If you have ever been in a Chinese community, you will see plenty of very deformed people, and I do not know why that is. And you will also see a lot of very smart engaging beautiful peoples.

Oh wait.., I guess they are like us then.

Why don't they do something about it? And I hope we do not become that.