An alternative healer who advocated "slapping therapy" to treat a range of maladies was
sentenced Friday to 10 years in prison for the death of a 71-year-old diabetic woman who stopped taking insulin during one of his workshops.
Hongchi Xiao, 61, was convicted of manslaughter by gross negligence for failing to get medical help for Danielle Carr-Gomm as she howled in pain and frothed at the mouth during the fourth day of a workshop in October 2016.
Xiao, of Cloudbreak, California, promoted paida lajin therapy, getting patients to slap themselves repeatedly to release "poisonous waste" from the body. The technique has its roots in Chinese medicine but critics say it has no scientific basis and patients often end up with bruises, bleeding - or worse.
Carr-Gomm was one of two of Xiao's patients who died.
He was extradited from Australia, where he had been convicted of manslaughter after a 6-year-old boy died when his parents withdrew his insulin medication after attending one of his workshops in Sydney.
"I consider you dangerous even though you do not share the characteristics of most other dangerous offenders," Justice Robert Bright said during sentencing at Winchester Crown Court.
"You knew from late in the afternoon of day one of the fact that Danielle Carr-Gomm had stopped taking her insulin," the judge said. "Furthermore, you made it clear to her you supported this."
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