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China Probes Baidu Over False Medical Ads After Student Dies (bloomberg.com)

Posted by BeauHD on from the false-advertising dept.

hackingbear writes: China's Internet regulator said on Monday it will send a team to investigate Baidu Inc over the death of a university student who used the Chinese search engine to look for treatment for his rare cancer, and to find an experimental treatment offered by the Second Hospital of Beijing Armed Police Corps, which eventually proved ineffective. Before dying, Wei accused Baidu online of promoting false medical information, as well as the hospital for misleading advertising in claiming a high success rate for the treatment, state radio said. The post attracted a large public outcry. Baidu says around one quarter of its revenues come from medical and health-care advertisers.

41 comments

  1. And republicans want to censor... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    information about chiropractors. Once again republicans prove themselves to be fascists.

    1. Re: And republicans want to censor... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Republicans hate educated consumers.

    2. Re: And republicans want to censor... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Republicans won't let me have sex with goats. I hate the pukianz.

    3. Re: And republicans want to censor... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Republicans want to censor goat porn. They also don't want me raping goats. Stupid Republicans.

    4. Re: And republicans want to censor... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      They are no better than the Chinese communists.

    5. Re: And republicans want to censor... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I'll die if I don't have sex with goats. Republicans won't let me have sex with goats. Republicans hate us and want us to die. To die.

    6. Re: And republicans want to censor... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Unlike the Republicans, the Chinese communists let me have sex with goats. Republicans show they hate us and want us to die.

    7. Re: And republicans want to censor... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Just like their kind does with homeopathy.

    8. Re: And republicans want to censor... by johnsmithperson123 · · Score: 1

      It's okay to censor actually malicious information. It's called "false advertising" or "malware".

    9. Re: And republicans want to censor... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Coming from the homo expert himself. Himself.

    10. Re: And republicans want to censor... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Chiropractors: doctor wanna be dudes who are somehow able to practice medicine without a medical license and not be criminally charged.

    11. Re: And republicans want to censor... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      And make a boatload doing it. Like GNC cf CVS.

  2. Obvious response by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Don't use the internet to look for medical treatments. Go to the doctor if you want treatment.

    1. Re:Obvious response by misosoup7 · · Score: 4, Informative

      Which doctor? How do you know the doctor you go to will be a specialist for the treatment that you need? You should look up online to see what treatment options are available and which doctors/hospitals/clinics specializes in what forms of cancer. The case in here is that the student had stage iv synovial sarcoma. And chemo and radiation didn't work. That's pretty poor prognosis, so they went down the experimental route. But the hospital that they went to basically falsely promised that they had a 80-90% chance of curing the cancer using a immunotherapy technique not cleared in any country for treating the cancer that he had. I remember reading in one of the articles in Chinese that the technique was already proven to be ineffective against sarcomas. So the issue is that basically the hospital lied. And finally, the kicker of all of this pile of crap, is that the hospital that performed the procedure wasn't even the hospital that was advertising on Baidu. The hospital that was advertising used to be a pretty famous hospital and it was a military hospital which used to be inaccessible to non-military personnel or their families (Second Hospital of Beijing Armed Police Corps). However, this has changed in the last several years, but to cope with the huge influx of the number of patients wanting to get the best, the hospital outsourced the cancer treatment to a different hospital. And the outsourced hospital could use the name "Second Hospital of Beijing Armed Police Corps) despite not actually being part of the hospital. The the worst part of all of this is that the outsourced hospital also named one other famous organization in the cancer (specifically the immunology) field. They claimed that this treatment was a joint research with Stanford, which of course is a lie as well.

    2. Re:Obvious response by sjames · · Score: 3, Informative

      He did go to a doctor. Alas, the doctor's ad claiming a high success rate with the cancer he had was a lie.

    3. Re:Obvious response by magarity · · Score: 1

      He did go to a doctor. Alas, the doctor's ad claiming a high success rate with the cancer he had was a lie.

      The article is skimpy on hard numbers. As in, there aren't any. What percentage recovery rate did the hospital claim in their ads? Anything less than 100% and it isn't immediately obvious that because one patient didn't make it then the claim was an outright lie. Who knows; maybe they say "we have high percentage survival rates!!**" and then in the bottom corner "** a high rate is 50% survival after 1 year". Even in US hospitals cancer survival rates are in terms of surviving a few years, not the remainder of a normal lifespan. So it's easy to see how some people might think those survival claims are misleading also.

    4. Re:Obvious response by stealth_finger · · Score: 2

      Even if they claim, and there actually is a 80/90% survival rate, then that still means 10/20% of people die.

      --
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    5. Re:Obvious response by sjames · · Score: 1

      Sure, but if the guy was just unlucky, there's not a big investigation. Here there's a question of the treatment he got having any useful effect on his type of cancer.

  3. Darwin Wins! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Flawless Victory

  4. country evolution by supernova87a · · Score: 4, Informative

    Well, actually, it sounds like the Chinese government is realizing it needs its own version of the FDA.

    The FDA in the US is so effective and yet underfunded, that we could afford to increase its budget by multiple x, and it would still be a wise expenditure of government funds. That organization protects us from far more than we give credit for.

    1. Re:country evolution by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

      They already have their own version of the FDA. http://eng.sfda.gov.cn/WS03/CL0755/

    2. Re:country evolution by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      I thought the GOP was going to get rid of all those liberal Job stealing Agencies.

    3. Re:country evolution by DNS-and-BIND · · Score: 0

      China DOES have a regulatory agency. Why on Earth did you assume they don't? Oh, right, so you can change the subject to America and bitch and moan. The topic's not always about you, narcissist.

      --
      Shutting down free speech with violence isn't fighting fascism. It IS fascism!
    4. Re:country evolution by skam240 · · Score: 2

      What the hell are you talking about? For starters, yes China does have their own version of the FDA but they clearly do a terrible job. Tons of products such as infant formula are actively sought after from foreign markets as Chinese consumers dont trust their domestic goods. I read about major food scandals in China every few months that dwarf anything that happens in Western nations.

      So yes, technically the above poster is wrong but what's with all this narcissist garbage?

      --
      I ignore Anonymous Coward posts. If you want to discuss something, that's awesome. Log in.
    5. Re:country evolution by DigiShaman · · Score: 2

      Well, yes. And how do you plan on stopping companies that are owned and operated by people with very close ties to the government that's producing toxic baby formula? Everyone want's to bitch and moan about the symptoms when clearly the cause is corruption via a non-accountable non-democratic society. Until the later is socially accepted within China, all other attempt to address the ancillary issues is tantamount to pissing in a typhoon!

      --
      Life is not for the lazy.
    6. Re:country evolution by wvmarle · · Score: 1

      Sure the Chinese government is doing a poor job in this, but they are not the only ones to blame. They are not the ones that put the melamine in the milk powder in the first place: that were manufacturers, trying to "improve" the test results (for nitrogen/protein content) so they could pass the tests.

      Many US manufacturers are very careful with their products, and not just because of the FDA. They care about their business and they care about the health of the people that eat or drink their product. Often for personal reason (especially small businesses), but also from a commercial standpoint, as a good and trustworthy name is important. Many callbacks of products are nowadays manufacturer initiated rather than FDA mandated.

      This is a mindset issue. US companies have learned to care about their long term profitability, and the long term survival of their company (at least the current quarter and hopefully the next), while Chinese companies care about today's and maybe tomorrow's profits. Many don't have brand names to protect, there are many no-name companies that produce hundreds of no-name brands, so if one brand has an issue they just stop printing that name on the label and continue with the rest. Most Chinese company managers also don't care too much about the quality of the product, or safety, on a personal level - as long as profits are guaranteed.

    7. Re:country evolution by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      FDA?

      So that pill actually made your cock 5 inches now, up from your original 2 inches?

  5. There's the problem right there by Tablizer · · Score: 0

    "as used by billionaire Steve Jobs"

    --
    Table-ized A.I.
    1. Re:There's the problem right there by Joe_Dragon · · Score: 1

      And that worked so well why keep listing that line?

  6. FDA Effective by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Maybe they need a Surgeon General to protect tobacco companies too.

  7. Why is it Baidu's fault? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    and to find an experimental treatment offered by the Second Hospital of Beijing Armed Police Corps

    It sounds like a government hospital was the place advertising the bogus cancer treatment. Maybe the government should investigate itself before going after Baidu...

  8. moderation system at /. down? by sittingnut · · Score: 1

    seems very little moderation (use of points)seems to be taking place here nowadays (as in this post, as of this time).
    has the overall moderation points awarded gone down?
    is that deliberate decision on the part of new owners/editors?
    or have the people earning points gone down? as more people lose interest due to left wing biased political, and other rather idiotic non technology, stories.

    or both?

    1. Re:moderation system at /. down? by NicBenjamin · · Score: 2

      I've gotten plenty of mod-points lately. A couple 15-pointers in the past 2-3 weeks. First time that's happened in months.

      But they only give me three days to spend them, when I could have sworn in the past it was a full week.

    2. Re:moderation system at /. down? by skam240 · · Score: 1

      I get mod points all the time. Stop being a negative nancy.

      --
      I ignore Anonymous Coward posts. If you want to discuss something, that's awesome. Log in.
    3. Re:moderation system at /. down? by sittingnut · · Score: 1

      good to know you got points.
      but looking at comment ratings, it is clear not much mod points are being spent in aggregate .
      may be somebody should do a study comparing mod points spent in older threads and newer ones with similar number of comments.

  9. High Success Rate by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    You also have a high success rate of rolling a number higher than a 1 on a standard six-sided die, but that doesn't mean the opposite will never happen.

  10. Second Hospital of Beijing Armed Police Corps by tomalpha · · Score: 1

    So I know it might only be a name, but what's the Beijing Armed Police Corps doing running a hospital?
    That's more terrifying than the regular terrifying news that comes out of China these days.

    1. Re:Second Hospital of Beijing Armed Police Corps by wvmarle · · Score: 1

      Just like the US army has their own hospitals, prisons, research organisations, etc. You just normally don't hear about them as it's for military personnel only, and maybe then even only for work related cases.

      The difference is that in communist countries the army has preferential treatment. As a result, military hospitals get the best equipment, can hire the best doctors, etc. This is of course an incentive for people to join the army and to remain loyal. Often also close family members can use the military facilities.

      Nowadays these hospitals are opening up to the public (i.e. those that can afford it), apparently even operating commercially and openly advertising their services.

  11. Happens by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I would say that the Chinese government should probably go easy on Baidu. We have all kinds of people, some who have been among the richest, who have attempted to cure themselves of cancer and failed, dying in the process. If you handicap your search engines, it won't be an overall benefit however.

  12. Search by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I'm curious why the government is focused on Baidu and not the problematic hospital. It is after all Baidu's job to find things in information. The hospital put a lie out there, and Baidu picked it up. Wouldn't you focus on the liars and not the finders?

  13. An article about China by Kinthelt · · Score: 1

    Bring in the shills.

    --

    "Evil will always triumph over good, because good is dumb." - Dark Helmet (Spaceballs)