Chinese woman who spent years posing as patient to help train doctors to leave body to science
Luan Xiaoying says she wants to continue to help the medical profession after her death, according to newspaper report
An elderly woman from southwest China who helped train doctors for over a decade by posing as a patient during their training says she wants to donate her body for medical research after she dies, according to a newspaper report.
Luan Xiaoying, 82, acted as a “sample patient” for 12 years at a hospital in Chengdu in Sichuan province, the Huaxi Metropolis Daily reported.
She played the role of a patient at the hospital from 1992 to 2004.
She would simulate a set of symptoms or medical problems to help train doctors or evaluate their performance.
Luan said donating her body to science would further help the medical profession.
“I’d like to contribute more to China’s medical development,” she was quoted as saying.
The idea of sample patients is relatively new in China, according to the report.
The Zhejiang Provincial People’s Hospital in eastern China recently recruited 36 sample patients, the first in the province to do so, the news website Thepaper.cn reported.
