A Chinese medical practitioner in Australia has been banned from practising Chinese medicine for three years after prescribing a herbal tea to a woman with heart issues, who later died from a heart attack, as per New York Post.
Dr Shuquan Liu, who has treated notable figures such as former Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, was found guilty of professional misconduct by the New South Wales Civil and Administrative Tribunal.Liu’s signature 101 Wellness Program, which involves fasting and consuming herbal teas, was at the centre of the complaint lodged by the Health Care Complaints Commission.
The case revolved around a 41-year-old woman who was suffering from a pre-existing heart condition. The woman sought treatment at Dr Liu’s clinic in January 2018 to lose weight. Between January 10 and 31, she attended 16 consultations but was never asked about her heart health or examined in any capacity. Dr Liu did not check her pulse, blood pressure, or heart rate, nor did he seek any information from her general practitioner or specialist.
The woman was later admitted to St Vincent’s Hospital on February 2 after suffering a heart attack. She was found to have a potassium deficiency and cardiac arrhythmia and tragically died six days later.
While the Commission did not allege that Dr Liu’s programme directly caused her death, they argued he failed to obtain “sufficient information” before prescribing the treatment. Liu defended his actions, claiming that checking vital signs like pulse and blood pressure were “Western diagnostic tools” that he did not use in his traditional Chinese medicine practice.
The tribunal ruled that Dr Liu had practised “significantly below the standard” expected of a practitioner, calling his failures “egregious” and showing a “gross lack of care”.
