Tougher regulation of alternatives treatments urged after woman's 'slapping therapy' death

Tougher regulation for alternative therapies has been called for by the family of a diabetic woman who died when she went to a slapping workshop and stopped taking her insulin.

Danielle Carr-Gomm, 71, died in Wiltshire in October 2016 at a retreat run by Hongchi Xiao Xiao, an alternative healer and practised 'paida lajin', a therapy in which people slap themselves and others to expel toxins from the body.

Following her death, Hongchi Xiao Xiao, was convicted of gross negligence manslaughter.

Her son, Matthew Carr-Gomm said he wished she had done more research on Xiao, who had already been jailed for a previous offence in Australia where a six-year-old boy died at one of Xiao’s workshops in Sydney in 2015 after his parents stopped giving him insulin. Xiao was jailed and banned from offering any medical treatment.

The Department of Health and Social Care urged anyone seeking therapy treatments to use qualified practitioners who are on a professional register.

Ms Carr-Gomm, from Lewes, East Sussex, had type 1 diabetes, meaning she had to take insulin every day to keep her blood glucose levels under control. However, she struggled with injecting insulin and was always seeking different ways to manage the condition.

When asked if she’d ever stopped taking her insulin before trying Xiao’s workshop, Mr Carr-Gomm said "never". He added: “She was quite a risk-averse person, she was also quite naïve. I wish she’d done some more internet-based research and typed his name in and some of the things that’d happened."

He said that he strongly believes there his mum would be alive if she had not attended Xiao’s workshop.

The court was told Ms Carr-Gomm announced on the first day of the workshop she had stopped taking her insulin, which Xiao “congratulated her on”.

She also began to fast but soon became seriously unwell and was described as “howling in pain” by day three. By the fourth day, she had died of diabetic ketoacidosis.

Mr Carr-Gomm hopes his mum’s death will raise awareness of the risks of alternative therapies.

He said: “Some of it is great and has a lot of benefits, but in this instance it was reckless."

In the UK, apart from chiropractic, there is no professional statutory regulation of the complementary and alternative medicine sector which means that it is legal for anyone to practice, even if they have no formal qualifications or experience.

Mr Carr-Gomm believes this needs to change. “It’s extraordinary, isn’t it? Just like the medical profession has a degree of responsibility for any kind of malpractice, the same needs to apply to this."

A doctor and associate professor of diabetes at the University of Exeter, Rob Andrews, believes NHS waiting lists may also be encouraging more people to seek alternative treatments.

He said: “We need to work out how we regulate this, and that's a really big thing to do because it must be at all levels.

“So, there are drugs that people buy, that aren't the drugs that they buy. There are people who see people who say they're doctors who aren't doctors, and there are people who falsify papers to say that they're experts in areas that they're not. I suspect there are a lot of people who come to harm across the year."

In response a spokesperson from the Department of Health and Social Care told the BBC: "No-one should take advantage of vulnerable individuals. It is vital that anyone seeking therapy treatments uses qualified practitioners who are on a statutory professional register, or a voluntary register accredited by the Professional Standards Authority."

Complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) is treatment that falls outside of mainstream healthcare and ranges from acupuncture and homeopathy to aromatherapy, meditation and colonic irrigation. The NHS availability of CAM is limited, and, in most cases, it will not offer such treatments.

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) provides guidance to the NHS on effective treatments that are value for money and has recommended CAM in very few circumstances.

The NHS says that if you suspect you may have a health condition, first see your GP and do not visit a CAM practitioner instead of seeing your GP.