SHANGHAI: The parents of a teenage boy who died after major heart surgery are suing Shanghai East Hospital, accusing it of working with a German partner to test new medical treatments.

Shanghai Xuhui District People's Court held the first hearings into the matter this week.

Zhang Shengfu, the attorney representing the parents, told China Daily that the Shanghai East Hospital implanted the 13-year-old Zhou Yiqing with an artificial heart not approved by the country's food and drug administration.

It is alleged hospital surgeons conducted a heart transplant using a donor heart that was not compatible, and did stem cell and muscle transplants.

"The hospital used an artificial heart made by its German partner, Berlin Heart AG, which has not received an approval from China's food and drug administration," Zhang said.

"Many foreigners visited Zhou after the operation."

Zhang said the boy had complained to his parents that so many foreign visitors saw him every day that he felt like a "show monkey".

But this was only the beginning of the boy's further slide into poor health.

The artificial heart soon began to fail and it is alleged doctor Liu Zhongming with the hospital suggested a stem cell transplant, claiming it would make the boy's own biological heart regrow.

The cell operation was done on June 15, 2004, 23 days after the implant, but failed to work.

Four months later, the boy was given a muscle cell transplant, which did not work either. The cell was taken from the boy's thigh and the operation left a hole.

According to Zhang, both of the cell transplants were "extremely painful" for the young boy.

When the hospital suggested one muscle cell transplant two weeks later, the boy's mother refused.

On May 24, 2005, the boy began to bleed significantly.

"It was the result of using too much anti-clog medicine," Zhang said.

And when the hospital stopped giving him the medicine, the boy developed a blood-clot in his brain that caused the left side of his body to become paralyzed.

The boy had a heart transplant on July 15 and died 15 days later. "Pre-transplant tests found the donor heart was not suitable for Zhou, but the hospital did the surgery anyway," Zhang said.

The parents sued the hospital and Shanghai Children's Hospital, who received Zhou first and then transferred him to Shanghai East Hospital. They are seeking 1 million yuan ($132,300) in compensation.

(China Daily 07/26/2007 page5)