Skip to main content

Doctors Say Chinese Dissident Is Fit to Travel for Cancer Treatment - The New York Times

posted onJuly 10, 2017
>

Article snippet: BEIJING — Liu Xiaobo, the political prisoner and Nobel laureate who is on medical parole in a Chinese hospital to treat late-stage liver cancer, is fit to travel abroad to receive medical care, doctors from the United States and Germany said on Sunday. The doctors, Joseph M. Herman of the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center and Markus Büchler of the University of Heidelberg, who evaluated Mr. Liu on Saturday, said he had indicated that he wanted to be sent abroad for the remainder of his treatment. “While a degree of risk always exists in the movement of any patient, both physicians believe Mr. Liu can be safely transported with appropriate medical evacuation care and support,” the doctors said in a joint statement. They added that they were willing to provide Mr. Liu such care. Shang Baojun, a lawyer who represented Mr. Liu at his trial in 2009 on charges of state subversion, said by phone, “He said his first preference would be Germany, but if that wasn’t workable, then the United States would be fine, too.” Mr. Shang said he was not sure why Mr. Liu preferred Germany, but that seemed to be the first preference of his wife, Liu Xia, who is under house arrest. The lawyer, other people close to Mr. Liu and his wife have asked that he be allowed to travel abroad for treatment, but have not given a clear reason. They appear to be driven by distrust of Chinese hospitals and a desire for him to regain some freedom. Human rights activists have also questione... Link to the full article to read more

Emotional score for this article