Surgery Godfather-Chapter 1958 - 1337: This Is a Crime (2)

In the early morning, Yang Ping was reviewing materials translated into three languages in his office.

Xu Zhiliang came from the ward with good news: "Lele’s response after treatment is good, her temperature has returned to normal, and immune indicators show that the regulatory pathway is starting to activate."

"Good." Yang Ping nodded, his eyes never leaving the screen, "Thank you for your hard work; keep a close eye on things in the ward."

"Professor..." Xu Zhiliang hesitated for a moment, "Will making such a big move affect... Lele’s... treatment? I mean, if the media swoops in again..."

Yang Ping finally raised his head, "There is no need to worry about the media in such matters. If they are objective, it’s naturally beneficial to us. If they lose objectivity, why should we care about them? So we don’t need to consider these things at all. We should just do what needs to be done."

He rubbed his temples: "Moreover, we must do this. If we don’t stop these abusers today, more patients will be harmed tomorrow. Those receiving fake treatments in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Japan, they believe in the name ’system regulation theory’. We have a responsibility to protect this name from misuse."

Xu Zhiliang nodded solemnly and exited the office.

At seven o’clock, Tang Shun came running to report important progress on the American front.

"Professor, the California Medical Board has agreed to an emergency hearing!" Tang Shun’s eyes were red, but he was excited, "Our lawyers submitted a complete chain of evidence from that medical center, including comparison charts of their plagiarism of our papers, injury records of five patients, and internal emails showing they knowingly concealed risks. The board found this constituted serious medical malpractice and fraud and has initiated license revocation procedures and referred it to the local district attorney. This time, Robert, John Ansen, Woodhead, Griffin... many people have given their all to help us gather evidence."

"Specific details of patient injuries?"

"The most severe case involves a sixty-year-old rheumatoid arthritis patient," Tang Shun said solemnly, "The center administered a supposedly large dose of immune modulator, resulting in acute kidney injury, now requiring dialysis three times a week."

Yang Ping closed his eyes. Science being distorted, simplified, and turned into tools of harm is every researcher’s deepest fear.

"Has the police filed a case?"

"The local district attorney’s office has accepted the case and is organizing a grand jury hearing. Our lawyer says that in cases involving patent theft and harm to patients, if convicted, the sentences are severe."

At nine in the morning, Song Zimo reported news from the UK line.

"The reaction from the UK’s Medical Regulatory Authority, GMC, was quicker than expected!" said Song Zimo, "That medical center doesn’t even have registered doctors; the so-called ’therapists’ only have massage licenses. They used our theory to package themselves, charging exorbitant fees. The GMC has joined forces with the police for an undercover check, uncovering a lot of forged medical records."

"Was there any harm to patients?"

"Three cases of liver injury have been confirmed, with one requiring a liver transplant." Song Zimo’s voice carried suppressed anger, "What’s more infuriating is that when patients had issues, they were told it was a detoxification reaction from the treatment’s effectiveness, and they continued to undergo treatment until they ended up in the emergency room."

Yang Ping clenched his fist. Ignorance coupled with greed is the most dangerous combination.

"What did the police say?"

"The London police have filed a case under ’serious bodily harm and fraud’. The center’s person in charge has been restricted from leaving the country. The GMC is still investigating whether more victims are involved."

At eleven in the morning, Zhang Lin had a breakthrough on the Japanese front.

"The Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare has taken action!" Zhang Lin burst into the office, "The biotech company’s factory was raided, and it was found that their regulatory preparations contained no active ingredients, just ordinary vitamin mixtures. The police also discovered they falsified clinical data, falsely claiming a ’93% efficacy rate’."

"What about the patients?"

"Twelve patients, including one child patient, missed proper treatment." Zhang Lin placed the materials on the table, "The Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department has arrested the company’s leader on charges of ’negligence causing injury in business’ and ’fraud’, which are serious crimes under Japanese law."

Progress was made on all three fronts. But Yang Ping had no time to celebrate; he immediately gathered the team and instructed Tang Shun to submit a formal report to the Nobel Committee.

At two in the afternoon, Yang Ping went to visit. His mental state was visibly improved, and his eyes regained their luster.

Yang Ping checked the latest data, showing a 40% decrease in inflammation indicators, the metabolic profile approaching normal, and a significant improvement in immunocyte subgroup proportions. Most encouragingly, the levels of autoantibodies causing vasculitis had greatly decreased.

At three in the afternoon, Professor Carlson called directly.

"Professor Yang, the report has been received." Her voice sounded more serious than it ever had in previous calls, "The committee’s emergency meeting has just ended. We consulted legal advisors and medical ethics experts."

Yang Ping listened quietly.

"The committee’s conclusion is: The complaint-related cases, upon verification, are indeed unrelated to your team but were caused by third-party institutions misusing and distorting your team’s research findings. This behavior not only violates scientific ethics but also constitutes criminal offenses in three countries."

She paused for a moment: "Therefore, the committee has decided to issue a statement in the name of the committee, condemning the use of scientific names to harm patients and supporting the maintenance of scientific integrity through legal means."

Yang Ping felt the heavy burden lifted from his shoulders, but his voice remained calm: "Thank you for the committee’s fair judgment."

"No, it is we who should thank you for your courage," Professor Carlson, rarely revealing personal emotion, said, "In the scientific community, many people choose to resolve such things privately to avoid lawsuits, fearing reputational damage. You chose the most difficult but right path, using the law to protect patients and action to define the boundaries of science."

She finally said: "The committee will make it clear in the statement: The Nobel Prize is to honor the spirit of scientific exploration, but this spirit must be based on ethics and responsibility. Your team demonstrated this responsibility. Professor Yang, I apologize that this matter wasted your valuable time."

By evening, preliminary reports from police and regulatory agencies from the three countries began to come in. The medical center in the United States had its license revoked, and the person in charge was prosecuted; the UK’s ’therapist’ had been arrested, and the center was closed; the Japanese company’s assets were frozen, and the person in charge faced criminal charges. The media’s reporting direction completely shifted, from ’Nobel Prize embroiled in controversy’ to ’International medical fraud ring dismantled’.

Zhang Lin monitored global opinion: "The current mainstream voice praises us for decisively reporting to the police, protecting patient rights. Science magazine just published an editorial titled: ’When Science is Exploited: Legal Responsibility and Moral Courage of Research Teams’."

Tang Shun organized follow-up work: "Police from all three countries hope we can continue to provide technical support to help assess the damage to the victims and assist in designing rehabilitation plans."

"Arrange for the team to connect," Yang Ping said, "Those patients are also victims; we should help them."

"The members of the Sanbo Forum played a significant role this time, utilizing all resources efficiently for evidence collection and prosecution," Tang Shun added.

The Sanbo Forum consists of Yang Ping’s friends from the international WeChat group; they can be considered Yang Ping’s students, having learned from him in one way or another.

Originally initiated by John Ansen, Robert, and others, the forum was established online with an internal membership recommendation system, with all members being top medical experts, including John Ansen, Robert, Manstein, August, and Takahashi. They initially exchanged posts on the website, and later, for more convenient real-time communication, established the WeChat group. This group is Yang Ping’s strong support internationally, and they are loyal fans of Yang Ping.