Ineffective refund dilemma, parents spend 500000 yuan on "meridian reconstruction" for their autistic son
Recently, Mr. Wang, a resident of Changshu, called the Jiefang Daily Shangguan News Hotline for help, claiming that he may have encountered a scam in Shanghai.
Two years ago, Mr. Wang's 3-year-old son was diagnosed with autism. After being diagnosed, Mr. Wang first took his child to a rehabilitation institution for a year and a half, but there was no significant effect. Later, he saw a promotional video on a short video platform about drinking traditional Chinese medicine to treat autism. He went to another city and spent 150000 yuan to purchase traditional Chinese medicine for his son for a whole year, but after drinking it, he still did not improve.
After years of seeking medical treatment without success, in the first half of this year, a parent of a sick child told Mr. Wang's wife that there was a treatment method that was effective. Under the introduction of this person, Mr. Wang was pulled into a group chat. Afterwards, Mr. Wang spent a total of over 500000 yuan, almost draining the entire family's savings
Public welfare therapy that cannot be queued
In the newly added group, the total number of people is close to 500, and the chat atmosphere is very lively. People often share successful cases of autism treatment.
Mr. Wang told reporters that every day, group members also post videos in which serious autistic children have improved significantly after undergoing "meta" treatment by the "Qiaoxu" institution. They sing and dance, and listen to adults very much. "We were particularly moved after watching them," he said. In the official account of "Qiaowei", there is news that this organization has gone to many places across the country to help autistic children for free. In some reports, it was even mentioned that the cure rate of this public welfare treatment reached 92%.
Under the daily influence, the couple felt as if they had found hope.
They applied to "Qiaoxu" for the opportunity of public welfare treatment, but the other party said that public welfare treatment needs to queue for two to three years, and if in a hurry, they can "go commercial". The so-called "going commercial" refers to paid treatment. If a family's annual income is between 100000 yuan and 250000 yuan, they will receive treatment for 250000 yuan. If the family's annual income is above 250000 yuan, they will have to spend 500000 yuan on treatment. Mr. Wang told reporters that the staff of the Qiaowei institution told him at the time, "Western medicine can intervene in autism, but the intervention is relatively slow. Our company uses meridian therapy, which is traditional Chinese medicine and can be cured in a short period of time. 500000 yuan can be used for 8 treatments, with each treatment lasting for an hour and a half for 8 consecutive days, and it will be cured."
Under suspicion, in mid to late April, they signed a "Modern Traditional Chinese Medicine Technology Meridian Regulation Service Agreement" with Qiaowei, and gritted their teeth to pay 500000 and 3000 yuan.
In the agreement, it is mentioned that "Party B shall provide Party A with modern Chinese medicine technology meridian conditioning services under the framework of health medicine. Modern Chinese medicine meridian conditioning services are guided by comprehensive integrated medicine, integrating diagnostic indicators of Western medicine with traditional Chinese medicine syndrome differentiation methods, developing personalized meridian conditioning plans, and implementing standardized meridian conditioning services using bundle pressure wave technology." "By signing this agreement, Party A acknowledges Party B's technical services and shall not terminate the agreement without legal issues.".
Agreement content.
Can autism, cancer, and Parkinson's be treated?
The office of Qiaowei is located at Room 1906, East Block, 2218 Shanghai South Road, Beicai Town, Pudong New Area. There is no name tag for the institution outside the office building and in the lobby on the first floor. The door is very low-key, with a row of small characters "Qiaowei Health" pasted on the glass door, and a slightly larger "Qiaowei Health" inscription on the wall at the main entrance. On September 20th, the reporter saw a framed text hanging on the wall inside the glass door on the other side of the scene, titled "The Three Character Classic of Chinese and Western Integration Pressure Wave". The agreement also mentioned "pressure wave", which is the specific technology used in the service. This "Three Character Classic" mainly talks about the therapeutic effect of pressure waves. Among more than 40 "Three Character Classic", it mentions "treating diseases before they occur", "treating already existing diseases", and "treating all kinds of diseases". However, in fact, the business scope of "Shanghai Qiaowei Health Medical Research Co., Ltd." in the business information includes health consulting services, health care services, traditional Chinese medicine health care services, etc., and does not have qualifications related to medical practice and treatment.
At the entrance of Qiaowei Company, the "Three Character Classic of Pressure Wave" claims to be able to treat all kinds of illnesses.
There were five other families who signed the agreement with the couple. Shortly after the payment, for some reason, the WeChat group chat where various successful cases could be seen every day had been disbanded.
During the "conditioning service", Mr. Wang's child was lying on a bed with an instrument by the bedside. At the other end of the instrument was a handheld end resembling a handgun. The staff pressed the child's arm with one hand and moved the instrument terminal back and forth on the child's arm with the other hand. In the treatment video, Mr. Wang's child appeared very frightened and kept crying.
Mr. Wang's child is undergoing stress wave "meridian reconstruction".
During the first conditioning service in early May, a person in charge of Qiaowei with the surname had a conversation with several parents, and Mr. Wang secretly recorded the entire conversation process. In the video, Yu no longer mentions "conditioning", but instead mentions the word "treatment" extensively, stating that the treatment plan is his own.
What are meridians? Yu said, "You can hear me speak, which is also a form of communication between the meridians. Our two meridians have already been coupled and connected." In order to make parents believe in the effectiveness of the treatment, Yu boasted that a leader in Beijing had liver cancer and "after one month of treatment in Qiaowei, he lost two-thirds of his weight.". Mr. Wang asked, is the method of treating cancer the same as treating autism? Yu said, "The core is the reconstruction of meridians.". Yu also mentioned that his institution can not only treat tumors, but also treat Parkinson's disease. In the official WeChat official account of Qiuwei Health, the reporter found a standard price list of "modern Chinese medicine technology meridian conditioning difficult diseases". In addition to the diseases mentioned above, there are 21 kinds of diseases, including stroke, rheumatoid arthritis, ankylosing spondylitis, progressive frostbite, infantile cerebral palsy, scoliosis, gout, etc.
In the video, Yu claimed that the fee standard was "approved by the state" and that if the treatment was ineffective, "refunds could be made at any time", completely dispelling Mr. and Mrs. Wang's concerns.
But things didn't go as planned. Mr. Wang told reporters that the child did not have any special effects after completing 8 "conditioning services". On September 11th, the reporter saw at Mr. Wang's house that his child was still unable to speak on his own and did not respond to his mother's call at all. He always ran into the bathroom, turned on the faucet, and let the water flow freely, while crying for no reason
Mr. Wang reported poor results in the treatment group and was unexpectedly kicked out of the group chat. Another family who had previously helped promote the effectiveness of Qiaoxu did not improve after their children received all the services.
After the dispute with Qiaowei, Mr. and Mrs. Wang were removed from the group chat.
Expert: I have never heard of this therapy
What is the cause of autism? Is there a scientific basis for the pressure wave technology that charges over 500000 yuan?
The reporter specifically called a maternal and child health hospital in a certain province and city that has cooperated with Qiaowei to inquire whether the children with autism who participated in the public welfare treatment project in the first half of this year have improved. The other party replied that during the implementation of the public welfare treatment project, in addition to using the traditional Chinese medicine diagnosis and treatment provided by Qiaowei, the hospital also provided parenting guidance to parents in areas such as exercise, sleep, and diet, and did a lot of work in daily life. Regarding whether the child has improved, the staff stated that there is a certain effect, but autism cannot be solved by any single treatment method. The improvement of the child should be the result of various treatment methods working together.
Regarding whether there is a scientific basis for the treatment method of Qiaowei, the other party referred to our hospital as a Western medicine hospital and is not clear about the traditional Chinese medicine syndrome differentiation theory involved in Qiaowei, making it impossible to answer.
Shen Hongquan, a renowned traditional Chinese medicine practitioner in Shanghai and the chief physician of the Traditional Chinese Medicine Department at Putuo Hospital affiliated with Shanghai University of Chinese Medicine, told reporters that from the perspective of traditional Chinese medicine, the meridian routes are fixed and commonly expressed as "blocked", "blocked", "obstructed", "unobstructed", and "unobstructed". There has been academic discussion on "meridian reorganization", but it is not truly "reorganization". Some treatment methods can make the meridians more unobstructed. Simply using instruments to treat diseases belongs to an external treatment method, which generally plays an auxiliary and synergistic role and cannot produce special therapeutic effects on a specific disease or disease type.
The reporter also specifically interviewed Professor Xu Xiu, Director of the Department of Child Health at the Affiliated Pediatric Hospital of Fudan University. Professor Xu stated that the pathogenesis of autism is very complex and still unclear. The recognized existing research results indicate that autism is caused by the interaction of genetic and environmental factors. Among them, congenital genetic background factors have a significant impact, accounting for about 80%, and acquired environmental factors account for about 20%. Autism is an abnormality in the development of the brain's nervous system, which is difficult to detect from a child's appearance and physique. The difference between children with autism and normal children is social and communication barriers. Due to a lack of social preferences and lack of social initiative, their social skills development also encounters problems during their growth process, often manifested in their tendency to use others as tools when needed.
Professor Xu stated that for children with autism, as the cause is not yet clear, there is little talk about "complete cure". Currently, scientific behavioral intervention treatment methods are used to create more learning opportunities, follow the laws of children's skill development, guide children to develop various skills that are hindered by illness, and learn and master various behavioral norms of human society in daily life scenarios.
Professor Xu said that he has never heard of a therapy for treating autism in children that uses pressure wave technology to stimulate their arms. Professor Xu said that children with autism cannot speak or communicate, which is a function that only needs to be used when they are with others. They need to gradually learn and practice from others before developing their abilities. The so-called instruments cannot provide social scenes and opportunities for children, and no matter what kind of "pressure wave" stimulation they receive, their arms will not have any relationship with the cause of autism.
Professor Xu reminds that going to the hospital to see a doctor when sick is the most basic common sense in daily life, and not to trust the various services provided by unqualified social figures.
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