Found guilty of manslaughter by gross negligence, a promoter of alternative medicine techniques has been sentenced after a diabetic woman died from medical complications during a "slap therapy" workshop in the UK.

Hongchi Xiao, 60, of Cloudbreak, California, was tried in Winchester, southern England. He was charged in November in connection with the death of Danielle Carr-Gomm, 71, who was taking part in a session at a hotel to help her with diabetes in October 2016.

The pensioner was taking part in a "paida lajin" workshop, which involves patients being slapped or slapped repeatedly.

According to prosecutors, the alternative healer breached his duty to the woman by failing to take reasonable steps to ensure care when she was suffering from a "medical crisis," namely ketoacidosis. The head of the Crown Prosecution's Special Crimes Division, Rosemary Ainslie, said that "Hongchi Xiao knew that the consequences of Danielle Carr-Gomm's decision to stop taking insulin could be fatal, she had seen it before." and “his failure to take reasonable steps to assist Ms. Carr-Gomm contributed substantially to her death.”

Hongchi Xiao had already been tried in Australia for the death of a six-year-old boy whose parents, clients of his "therapies", had stopped giving him insulin.

(Unioneonline/ss)