LAW REPORT
A Case of Gross Professional Negligence
Ingrid Pagura | BA , LIB
In a recent case in the UK , ‘ an alternative healer ’, as he was referred to , was accused of gross negligence manslaughter when Danielle Carr- Gomm , 71 , who had type 1 diabetes , fell fatally ill in 2016 after she stopped taking her insulin and fasted during a paida lajin therapy retreat run by Hongchi Xiao at a country house in Wiltshire .
He promoted ‘ slapping therapy ’, taken up by millions of people across the world , which involves slapping body parts until they turn red and bruise with the aim to increase circulation and draw out latent disease . After being found guilty , Hongchi Xiao was sentenced on 6 December 2024 to a 15-year sentence .
It was not the particular therapy that was in question in this case , but rather that the practitioner was grossly negligent by failing to take reasonable steps to encourage [ the patient ] to take insulin and to summon medical help when it was clearly required . When she became seriously ill , crying in pain and weakening , Xiao blamed her decline on a healing crisis ’.
The prosecution said Xiao should have been fully aware of the danger Carr- Gomm was in because the year before a 6-year-old boy with type 1 diabetes had also died at a workshop run here in
Australia . After telling the boy ’ s mother to stop giving him insulin , the boy died . In the case under discussion here Xiao was convicted of gross negligence manslaughter and jailed .
In the case of the boy in Australia , the court found that ‘ shortly after the start of the workshop … the defendant told [ the boy ’ s ] mother to stop [ his ] insulin injections . Such an instruction is clear evidence of how strongly held the defendant ’ s views were , for example , as to insulin being poison ’.
IT WAS NOT THE PARTICULAR THERAPY THAT WAS IN QUESTION IN THIS CASE , BUT RATHER THAT THE PRACTITIONER WAS GROSSLY NEGLIGENT BY FAILING TO TAKE REASONABLE STEPS TO ENCOURAGE [ THE PATIENT ] TO TAKE INSULIN AND TO SUMMON MEDICAL HELP WHEN IT WAS CLEARLY REQUIRED .
By the third day , the boy ’ s mother told the workshop group that her son ’ s health was deteriorating , and that he was vomiting , had high blood sugar and high ketone levels . Despite this , Xiao continued to instruct the boy ’ s mother not to give him insulin . As his condition deteriorated , Xiao stated ‘ it is the detox . All the bad stuff … come out from his body , his organ . It ’ s just part of selfhealing body adjustment .’
Finally , 4 days later , as the boy had a seizure , Xiao began slapping the boy ’ s inner elbows . Paramedics arrived but were unable to resuscitate him .
The judge in this English case referred to the Australian one saying ‘ he was ultimately prosecuted for and convicted of manslaughter . He advocated a course that he knew was not medically justified and was contrary to medical experience , and a boy died as a result ’.
In this case of Danielle Carr-Gomm , Xiao argued that he was not a medical doctor , and it was up to participants in his workshops to continue to take the conventional medication they needed . He said Carr-Gomm was stubborn and had chosen not to take her medicine or listen to his advice . So , a point of difference here is that Xiao says he did not direct her to stop taking insulin .
42 | vol31 | no1 | JATMS