On June 13th, the official statement from the Hunan provincial government about the mysterious death of Luo Shuaiyu, an intern doctor at Xiangya Second Hospital of Central South University, was released. The 4500-word report refuted the claim made by the family that Luo Shuaiyu was silenced for reporting the hospital’s involvement in illegal organ trafficking. Luo Shuaiyu’s father, Luo Fuxiang, and other relatives rebutted this report during a live stream on June 14th, stating that they would continue to pursue the truth.
Luo Shuaiyu tragically fell to his death on May 8, 2024, less than a month before his graduation as a postgraduate student. When his family arrived at the scene, it had already been cleaned up. There were broken glasses on his dormitory bed, and 25,000 yuan in cash was found in his wardrobe. Two buttons were missing from the shirt Luo Shuaiyu had been wearing.
The hospital requested the family to sign agreements of “confirmed suicide” and confidentiality in order to retrieve the deceased’s belongings such as his computer and mobile phone, and offered the family 853,000 yuan as compensation. However, the hospital refused to cover the cost of a post-mortem examination as the family could not afford the 30,000 yuan fee.
Subsequently, the family found substantial evidence of the hospital doctor Liu Xiangfeng’s involvement in illegal organ trafficking on Luo Shuaiyu’s computer, raising suspicions of undisclosed motives behind their son’s death.
Liu Xiangfeng, a doctor at Xiangya Second Hospital, had been reported for exaggerating medical conditions and fabricating patient symptoms in August 2022, leading to an investigation. He was sentenced to 17 years in prison by a first-instance court in October of the following year.
At the end of last year, Luo’s father reported to the National Health Commission and the Hunan Provincial Health Commission. On June 12th, over half a year after the family’s report, the Hunan Provincial Health Commission confirmed that the complaints about medical corruption at Xiangya Second Hospital had been formally handed over to the public security authorities.
More than a year after Luo Shuaiyu’s incident, his parents, uncle, younger uncle, and cousin persistently voiced their concerns online. Volunteers helped them create numerous videos spread across major social media platforms, with some videos on Douyin reaching over a hundred million views.
On June 12th, various discussions about Luo Shuaiyu surged in popularity, prompting extensive media coverage. The official statement was issued on the 13th.
The report dismissed all evidence provided by Luo’s family, portraying Luo Shuaiyu as a student with poor academic performance who had not submitted his thesis before his death and expressed worries about his future, quoting classmates saying, “His glasses broke a month ago,” “He said he didn’t want to pursue a Ph.D., he just wanted a job,” “If he studied more, he might jump off a building,” to refute suspicions of homicide.
During the live stream on June 14th, Luo’s father remarked, “They initially told us he jumped with determination, smashing his glasses. Now, they present a different version. Will there be yet another version after further investigation?” and expressed, “Only by persisting can we uncover the truth.”
Netizens also questioned, “I complain every day that I might die if this goes on, is that considered evidence of suicide too?”
The report concluded that Luo Shuaiyu was not involved in reporting Liu Xiangfeng, stating that no whistleblowing materials were found on his computer.
Luo Shuaiyu’s uncle, during the live stream on June 14th, criticized the lack of basis for the claim in the official report and shared a screenshot from the computer file named “whistleblower evidence.” The image showed that the folder was created on April 28, 2022, containing 1.7GB of content.
In the video, Luo Shuaiyu’s uncle questioned, saying, “Is this fake? Why make baseless claims like this?”
Luo Shuaiyu’s father also pointed out that Luo Shuaiyu mentioned in his WeChat chat records that he was once detained in a “black room” for participating in the reporting and was forced to write a self-criticism. When Luo Shuaiyu visited home, he told his parents that after Liu Xiangfeng performed surgery, he was asked to sign as the “surgery doctor,” but he refused.
The report also alleged that Luo’s family demanded unreasonable compensation. Over the past year, Luo’s parents reiterated multiple times in live streams that they could not be bought with money, disclosing that the hospital had increased the compensation from 853,000 yuan to 15 million yuan, claiming it covered all the money Luo Shuaiyu earned during his career until retirement.
“If we took their money, we would betray Dr. Luo, who sacrificed his life for this evidence,” said his mother.
A volunteer informed Dajiyuan that the sudden surge in discussions about Luo Shuaiyu, and the subsequent official report released by the police a day after their involvement, were all prearranged to white-wash the hospital. She mentioned, “They turned a blind eye to organ-related matters. Can they report their own misdeeds?”
Another volunteer stated that they would continue to advocate for Luo Shuaiyu until the truth was fully revealed.
Recently, Luo Shuaiyu’s father told mainland media that the whistleblower materials contained over 1,300 pages of organ donor files from Xiangya Second Hospital, many of which are suspected of forgery. For instance, a girl’s donor file only left her father’s contact information, but when they called, the person who answered had a different surname than hers.
In a live stream on March 22nd, Luo’s father revealed the girl’s organ donation file. The file indicated that the donor was an 11-year-old girl named Wu Hongyi, with only her father’s signature and empty signature spaces for other relatives, and the family address left blank. The organ extraction address was listed as “Changsha Iron Hospital,” the operating doctor as “Jiang Zheng,” dated May 8, 2018.
The vote sheet from the ethics committee indicated the contact numbers of relatives, but after verifying through Alipay, the number owner’s surname was “Xie.”
The organ donor management record indicated that the donor was from “Changsha Eighth Hospital,” and the confirming doctor’s name was also “Jiang Zheng.” A search revealed a doctor with the same name at Xiangya Second Hospital.
Luo Shuaiyu’s uncle disclosed to mainland media that there were over 50 organ donor files found on Luo Shuaiyu’s computer, and they had randomly selected three with fewer pages for public sharing due to the extensive content.
The uncle further mentioned that Luo Shuaiyu had conducted over 200 kidney transplant surgeries in less than three years, indicating his clear understanding of the source of kidneys.
On June 14th, Luo Shuaiyu’s mother released a video questioning the accuracy of the report, asking, “Are the members of the joint investigation team qualified? Can a self-investigation be trustworthy? The joint investigation team did not investigate the 8.53 million yuan given to the family by the hospital; what does that imply?”
She also confirmed that the hospital had offered 3 million yuan to delete data from the computer, which was declined by the family.
Following Luo Shuaiyu’s incident, Luo’s father and mother updated their Douyin profile to state, “The rest of our lives is dedicated to seeking the truth.”