BMS and UMC sued for Poisoning Death

Wang Xiaoye's family sued the Bristol Myers-Squibb, employer of Li Tianhe, and University Medical Center, the hospital where Wang was treated before his painful death.

Sue Epstein of The Star-Ledger reported,

"A talented software engineer and a loving father of a toddler would be alive today if only one of the world's biggest drug makers, and an accredited medical center had just done their jobs," said Robert Mongeluzzi, one of the attorneys representing Wang's estate. "Bristol-Myers knew or should have known that Li was an unstable person who should never have had access to deadly thallium.

"And the hospital and its professional staff, including doctors, should have listened to their patient who feared for his life. Instead they enabled her time and access to finish what she had started. This may sound like a story line right out of Agatha Christie, CSI or HOUSE, but it is tragically true."

BMS is on the hook because it granted Li unlimited and unsupervised access to fatally toxic materials, even after documented cases (unrelated workplace hostility which resulted in a court issued restrainting order) proving Li was a volatile individual/ a ticking bomb.

UMC has a deeper pile to dig. Wang, with poisoning symptom, told doctors the wife, Li, poisoned him. Yet UMC granted Wang's unsupervised visit to Wang until his last day, probably allowing Li to finish what she hadn't able to achieve. In addition, UMC did not take it seriously even after a nurse figured out the source of poison, thallium. Wang's physical condition deteriorated soon after he admitted himself to the hospital and had no way to protect himself from Wang in the 10 some days leading to his death on Jan 26, 2011.

Insider Faulted Hospital on Thallium Death

A person with information posted online details of Wang Xiaoye's death. The Princeton Medical Hospital failed to take the patient's allegation that he had been poisoned seriously. Subsequent delay in making diagnosis and obtaining treatment caused the patient's life.

• Wang informed the Hospital on possible poisoning by his chemist wife in the middle of a bitter divorce process when he checked himself in on Jan 14;
• The Hospital thought Wang must be insane (to claim having been poisoned by his wife), and assigned a psychiatrist to evaluate his mental status;
• On or about Jan 17, it happened that a Chinese nurse was assigned to Wang's bed on a 12 hours shift. This magic nurse recorded Wang's symptoms, then Googled online after going home. All traces point to one possibility, thallium poisoning. The Hospital was notified immediately;
• The Hospital performed a test for thallium, which needed an out-of-State agency to interpret the result. The positive result took one week to come back on January 25. It was too late. Whiling awaiting for the official testing result, even though all findings point to thallium, the Hospital did not attempt to treat Wang for the entire 7 days. The Hospital saw the patient living a terrible death to his last breath.

其实早在1月底我已经知晓美国新泽西普林斯顿大学医学院的铊毒案，当时美国FBI 已经介入，消息不多只是知道那个死去的男的39岁无锡人，现在是华裔美国人，1月14日当时入院的时候病情一天天加重，他提示有可能是妻子投毒，原因是他和妻子关系不好，同时他们在闹离婚，但是美国医生不认同他的说法，还派了个精神病科的医生去医治，不过后来看其症状像是中毒，按照医院的常规检测但是一直也没有结果，到1月17日左右正好有个华裔护士换班看护他，因为前面那个护士8小时后下班，接班的护士是12小时的班，还要看护4个小时。她精于工作，观察了病人的症状并且做了记录，回家以后立即上网查这样的症状，没想到的是显示这样的症状的是朱令案子里面的铊中毒，第一时间她就电告医师，希望做铊的检查，因为铊的检查需要专门的仪器，最后在1月25号报告才出来，病人身体里面含有大量的铊，美国方面立刻动用普鲁士蓝，但是大雪封路，全美只有很少的地方有这个药，最后那个病人还是在1月26日死去。接着从FBI口中知道那个妻子是1998年从北京过去美国的，当是我心里一惊，因为在这以前我已经大量的了解了朱令案，当时我的判断是北京过去的不是清华就是北大，因为名牌大学出国容易，男的是39岁，女的估计小一点，可能也是1973年生的，名字里有个 LEE,应该姓李吧！后来证实女的40岁，是北大的，应该是71年的。据说那个男的死的时候是很痛苦的，人已经被铊毒摧残的不像样子了。可怜啊！死的时候牧师做了祷告。从这件事情我第一次了解了朱令案，我不想品论谁是凶手，但是我极端痛恨凶手，我想凶手死了以后肯定是要下地狱的，不论在中国还是在国外，她？他？会受到惩罚。一个人道德良心上受的煎熬比身体的煎熬更加可怕。即使她或者他是个无神论者，但是我认为这个罪孽是几辈子也消不了的。祸延几代。铊是可怕的，更加可怕的是她或者他

The same poster windly2011 wrote about the case on Feb 2, 2011, before it was reported by the media; therefore, it looks like a credible source.

最近在美国新泽西有个39岁的男子（无锡人）也是中的铊毒，死的很惨，据说也是被投毒的，发觉以后已经不治，他妻子是1998年过去美国的学的是化学，但是没有证据证明她能够拿到铊毒，据说女的要离婚男的不肯，后来就遭遇不测，有个两岁的孩子。美国警方已经进入调查。朱令的案子是1994年，估计那届毕业的也就在1997年左右。那个妻子正是1998年过去的，也是北京人，好像姓李。是不是朱令的同学有待调查。在这里我想要说的是天网恢恢，恶人必将受到天谴，必将下地狱，我们为朱令受到的伤害感到痛惜，但是我们也希望凶手被早日绳之以法。关注！

Development in the Investigation of Thallium Poisoning

1. A person with information posted on MITBBS, a site frequented by Chinese American students and professionals, that the plot of the plot was: the child was result of an affair of the mother. After the incident, the couple is splitting away, but still moved in the current house for consideration of the child. Coupled with long commute to Wall Street, the husband had not been a great help in childcare. The relation never recovered, and a divorce process started.

Rumor has it, it is the second marriage for the woman. Li was issued a restraining order for harassing a woman, whose husband was the child's biological father.

2. "If someone at the hospital had not guessed it might be thallium and tested for it, it might have gone undetected," said Steven Marcus, the medical and executive director of New Jersey Poison Control.

3. Li's family background in China can be characterized nothing but incredible. Li was able to transfer from Nankai University to Beijing University after one year of study in 1990, a mission impossible under Chinese higher education system. As an insider, the Seagull can tell you it's not easy because the transfer has to be approved by both University, the higher education commission of both Beijing and Tianjian, and the national higher education commission, while each and every party involved has inherent interest and natural motivation to deny. Truly amazing and incomprehensible. This is seemingly irrelevant to the poisoning case, but could give a shred of light on Li's mentality of supremacy and entitlement.

4. Reading news report, it seems the hospital and police has not speak all they knew, because 1) a hospital usually does not admit a patient for only 'flu-like' symptom; and 2) even giving the coincidence of the 'magic nurse', it is not quite clear what made the hospital started searching for possible poison agent and when did it start.

BJU Graduate Accused of Poisoning Husband with Thallium

A Beijing University graduate was charged with murdering her husband, a Qinghua alum. The couple were residents of Monroe Township of Middelsex County, NJ.

Wang Xiaoye (blue shirt in the middle), the victim earned a BS from Nanjing University and a Master degree from Qinghua University before caming to the States for PhD study at UPenn (PhD. MEAM '02). Wang worked as a computer engineer of PolyPaths, a financial company in NYC.

Li Tianhe, the wife, graduated from Beijing University with a BS. in Chemistry in 1995 after 6 years of study, followed by a Master degree in 1998. Friends said Li obtained another Master degree from U Penn before launched a job at Bristol-myers Squibb Company, a biopharmaceutical company in NJ. Li, a Chemist, has direct access to heavy metal material Thallium at work.

Their two years old son is under foster care. It is not sure at which point the 10 years marriage turned sore, but neighbors near their Monroe house all said they observed intensified domestic dispute since they moved in 2 years ago. Police car was constantly summoned to the otherwise quiet upscale community, multiple times in a bad week. One neighbor commented to a TV reporter "the woman's voice was higher than the man's voice". Given the cop culture in the US, one can only speculate that in every case when the police found the woman abusing the man each time they went in. Otherwise, the man would have been taken into custody at the scene. Police field guideline requires the officer to arrest the male partner if they observes a mark or have reason to believe an abuse by the male, even if the woman does not want to press charge.

Both Beijing University and Qinghua University had seen excessive share of Thallium poisoning cases. The a 'first Thallium poisoning case of China', a sophomore student Zhu Ling of Qinghua paralyzed and excessive amount of Thallium was found in her body. The suspect was one dorm roommate (8 students shared the room), but no one has been formally charged till this day. Zhu Ling's sister, a Beijing University student, died in a mysteriously way when hiking in a park with a group of Beijing University students. A few years later, one male student in Beijing University poisoned his classmate with Thallium, but confessed to the police just in time to save the poor boy's life.

Wang checked in a Princeton hospital for flu like symptom. When doctors were confused on his condition kept worsening under intensive medical care of two weeks, a nurse, "who remembering a case of Thallium poisoning in the 1990s in China", suggested to include a test for Thallium. Wang was diagnosed on 1/25/2011, but it was too late to save his life. Wang passed away the next day.

related reading:
High Profile Homicide Cases of Chinese Students in the US
Development
Hospital Faulted for Thallium Poisoning Death