I saw this disturbing and shocking story on ABC7 News this evening on Dr. Tony Shui, “Doctor accused of molesting patients.” This story is made for Disgrasian (”You’re a disgrace. To the Race.”):
“A Dublin doctor was arraigned on charges he drugged men, secretly took pics and then molested them. The fugitive doctor had been on the run for almost two years. This was a high-profile shocking case in the quiet town of Dublin. No one knew where he was until Shiu made a critical mistake, which lead American authorities to Taiwan. Tony Shiu was arrested in Taipei, Taiwan. He had been living here under the alias Tony Jiang. Chinese news reports say he was teaching English at a school and lived an uneventful quiet life… “
Shiu even made it as a story on “America’s Most Wanted.”
Can you imagine your doctor violating your trust while you are sedated??? What I find odd is that after police had found over 450 digital images at his home, Shiu wasn’t immediately detained (maybe he was?, made bail, then fled). I guess if you are an Asian American accused of a crime and want to flee, there’s no better place to hide than Asia. But you still need a passport to flee. I’m not trying to figure out how to flee the country if you’re a fugitive, but I am just a little concerned how easily an accused criminal could escape the authorities so easily.
This story also made me recall a blog posting I read recently read (though written in 2005 ) “Why E.R. Will Never Have an Asian Male Doctor” and made me thought if this would be the only time I’d “see” an Asian American male doctor on television, one arrested for abusing his patients? Are there any male doctors on Grey’s Anatomy? (I don’t watch the show, but I am guessing not). Hopefully this incident with Shiu won’t stigmatize Asian American doctors (at least in the Bay Area) as creepy malfeasants.
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Jen wrote:
Anesthetized women undergo pelvic exams without permision is “widespread”, 90% of medical students report having done pelvics on anesthetized women: http://www.boston.com/news/globe/health_science/articles/2004/07/13/pelvic_exams_performed_without_permission/
Naked photos taken during an “unorthodox” hypnosis session:
http://www.cbdlaw.com/CM/Articles/Articles60.asp
Unfortunately, these crimes happen all the time…even if you’re not an Asian male doc. On the other hand, I think the Asian male surgery doc “Dr. Wen” in Scrubs is pretty cool…
Posted on 31-May-08 at 5:58 am | Permalink
Asianmommy wrote:
That’s awful. Even doctors can be inappropriate jerks. So much for “do no harm”.
Posted on 31-May-08 at 12:24 pm | Permalink
Efren wrote:
Well, I’ve often thought of hot Asian male doctors um, molesting me…
But then, it’s not really molestation if I agree to it, right?
Seriously though, I think it’s a big issue because it’s a man doing it to other men. If I remember the original case though, these weren’t so much his patients as they were guys that he took home with them on dates–and then drugged them and took pictures. Either way, it’s fucked up as hell and completely and totally unethical since it was nonconsensual.
As Jen wrote, unfortunately, it’s very common for (straight) male doctors to do it to female patients, and this is one of the first times I’ve seen it where the victims were men. However, it is encouraging to see that there’s less of a stigma for men who are violated in this way (as well as rape victims and other male victims of sexual crimes) to report this to the authorities, and I’m glad the son of a bitch got caught.
Posted on 31-May-08 at 10:44 pm | Permalink
Jen wrote:
Efren, you bring up a great point, the story might be “big” because a male producer saw it and said “Crap, even I might get violated at my doctor’s appointment” and it may be such a big story because of homophobia rather than any other factor.
Posted on 01-Jun-08 at 8:23 am | Permalink
Efren wrote:
Yeah, and there is a huge stigma of men coming forward as victims of sexual crimes, whether it’s something like this, or outright rape. I think it’s a combination of homophobia and the victims feeling emasculated and feeling that they were at fault for allowing this to happen, so it is encouraging to see that men aren’t putting up with this, just as women shouldn’t either.
I remember posting this on a queer Asian e-mail list that I was on, and the silence was deafening, especially since such issues of men doing sexual violence (or hell, even partner violence) against other men just aren’t talked about and are assumed not to exist. I just hope that this guy gets what’s coming to him if what he did is true–whether or not he acted as a physician, or as a date.
Posted on 01-Jun-08 at 12:05 pm | Permalink
Jen wrote:
there’s also a disincentive for “gay” victims of violence to stand up because the gay community doesn’t want themselves to be portrayed as “violent” along with everything else they face in society.
particularly true of lesbians…they want to portray themselves as “peaceful and loving”, so lesbian victims of violence are often shushed by their community in order to maintain a “good” reputation for the straight folks.
Posted on 01-Jun-08 at 12:38 pm | Permalink
John wrote:
Jen, Efren - it is a “big” story because 1. local resident 2. the doctor violated a patient (and would be just as “big” if he were violating females) 3. he fled the country and was caught abroad.
Posted on 01-Jun-08 at 1:10 pm | Permalink
Jen wrote:
john, remember this was also featured on “America’s Most Wanted”, which is not a local news show. Efren and I were commenting how difficult it is for male victims to press charges, and amazed that this guy was caught because the male victims had the courage to speak up.
Unfortunately, doctors violate female patients a lot…most of them do not end up on America’s Most Wanted.
Posted on 01-Jun-08 at 2:16 pm | Permalink
Efren wrote:
If I remember this correctly, this wasn’t with his patients. The victims were guys that this guy dated by meeting them online, drugged the victims by putting stuff in their drinks, then DRAGGING their bodies home where he (at least) took pictures–if not doing more. Somehow, I think someone would’ve noticed this guy dragging a slumped over guy from his doctor’s office to his car, rather than from a bar (or coffeehouse) to his house, where people would be less likely to notice or just think, “oh, this guy had too much to drink.”
It was just more shocking that he was a physician by trade, and so has access to these drugs simply by self-prescribing them. I wonder if his pharmacists ever noticed this (only because I’m hoping to start pharm school–very, very soon), and would think that they’re probably the ones who started raising suspicions. “What, a prescription for rohypnol again?!”
Posted on 02-Jun-08 at 11:45 am | Permalink
Dplenert wrote:
I don’t think there was a doctor on Grey’s but in Cashmere Mafia, Lucy Liu’s love interest, Dr. Jason Chung played by Jack Yang was nice to look at. And he wasn’t so creepy. http://www.tv.com/jack-yang/person/284473/photos.html
Posted on 03-Jun-08 at 2:38 pm | Permalink
anon wrote:
Yes there r plenty of male doctors on Grey’s Anatomy” actually, most of them attractive.
Posted on 16-Jul-08 at 8:15 am | Permalink