Sensationalizing China, involving issues of family privilege, medical ethics, and personal ethics, the scandal of Dr. Xiao Fei and resident physician Dong Xiuying from the China-Japan Friendship Hospital in Beijing, was addressed on the night of the 15th by the National Health Commission of China. It announced that Xiao Fei had his medical practice certificate revoked and was dismissed; Dong Xiuying's medical school admission was confirmed to be fraudulent, and her graduation certificate as well as medical qualifications and practice certificate were revoked.
The National Health Commission of China released a progress report on the investigation of the cases of Xiao Fei and Dong Xiuying, mentioning the results above.
The report admitted that Xiao Fei, then deputy chief surgeon of thoracic surgery at the China-Japan Friendship Hospital, interrupted the process and left the operating room during a lobectomy under thoracoscopy in July 2024 when the patient was under anesthesia, "placing personal emotions above the patient's life safety," and had "inappropriate relations" with Dong Xiuying and others during his marriage. This result confirmed the content of prior online revelations in China.
The report indicates that the China-Japan Friendship Hospital has expelled Xiao Fei from the party and terminated his employment. The Beijing Municipal Health Commission revoked Xiao Fei's medical practice certificate and imposed a penalty of at least five years' prohibition from engaging in medical and health services; as for the China-Japan Friendship Hospital, it was ordered to make corrections within a time limit, warned, and fined because of this.
As for Dong Xiuying, the report pointed out that she falsified her admission qualifications for the Beijing Union Medical College clinical medicine professional training mode reform (4 years of non-medical bachelor's + 4 years of medical doctor MD, called the 4+4 system in China) pilot class in 2019. Her university physics, chemistry, and 2 other courses, totaling 16 credits, were falsified, and she did not meet each year’s admission qualifications. Her 2023 doctoral thesis had a repetition rate of over 20% with another person's thesis from a different school the same year, showing severe plagiarism and academic misconduct.
The report mentions that Beijing Union Medical College revoked her graduation certificate and doctoral degree due to Dong Xiuying's related illegal and unlawful conduct. Concurrently, the Beijing Municipal Health Commission also annulled her medical qualification and medical practice certificates.
In addition to Xiao and Dong, the report pointed out that this incident exposed issues with Beijing Union Medical College’s admission qualification determination, clinical practice management, degree thesis defense and review, as well as students' ideological and political education, citing “lack of rigorous pilot plan, lax management, and incomplete implementation.” Currently, comprehensive rectification is underway, and the National Health Commission, in conjunction with the Ministry of Education, is conducting a comprehensive evaluation of the “4+4 pilot” at the college, urging reform and improvement.
●Illicit Affair Falls within Personal Ethics Domain
Summarizing the focal points of discussions about this case in China, firstly is the illicit affair of Dr. Xiao Fei with the young resident female doctor Dong Xiuying, who is under 29 years old, and several nurses, falling under the domain of personal ethics; secondly, for comforting Dong Xiuying—who left during a surgery due to immature technical skills being criticized by a nurse—Xiao Fei abandoned an ongoing patient in the operating room to do so, falling under the domain of medical ethics.
Thirdly, the fact that Dong Xiuying’s parents are high officials within the Chinese Communist system and how she could smoothly obtain a medical doctor degree and hospital employment falls under the domain of family privilege; fourthly, the 4+4 medical education system in China impacted by Dong Xiuying raises questions from the Chinese public unfamiliar with it, falling under the domain of medical education.
For the above reasons, this incident has recently sparked widespread debate among Chinese netizens, especially those who generally question Dong Xiuying’s use of privilege background to gain “green light” advantages in college and employment. Some netizens further question the unfair treatment faced by CCP “insider” families and the broad public outside the system. (Source: Central News Agency)