Hospital Fraud Exposed as X-Ray Reveals Phantom Medical Implants

A patient's X-ray has revealed a shocking medical fraud: Two high-priced surgical rings, supposedly implanted in his body during a 2018 thumb reattachment surgery, were missing, the Beijing News reported on Wednesday.

Wang Haisen, a carpenter, lost his left thumb to a power saw accident in Zhengzhou, central China's Henan Province, in 2018. Rushed to the emergency department of the First Affiliated Hospital of Zhengzhou University (ZZUFY), he underwent surgery involving two microvascular anastomosis devices, billed at 16,800 yuan (US$2,421) each.

For three years, Wang lived with the belief that the devices were inside him, seamlessly mending his blood vessels. It was only upon taking an X-ray at a local hospital in 2021 that the truth emerged. The metallic rings, which contain stainless steel pins and cannot be absorbed by the body, had vanished. The only logical conclusion: They were never used. He filed a police report in December 2021.

A police investigation uncovered a scheme led by Wang Fujian, then deputy director of emergency surgery at ZZUFY. From 2016 to 2020, he fraudulently billed 94 finger-injury patients for 128 microvascular anastomosis devices he knew were medically unnecessary, collecting over 2.05 million yuan.

Wang also received over 1.05 million yuan in kickbacks from a supplier for using 343 such devices. To hide the scam, he sometimes sewed unused devices into patients' flesh near blood vessels, an assistant revealed.

Despite prior patient complaints and a hospital transfer, his actions continued until media exposure in late 2021. He was suspended, and though the hospital later moved to reinstate him, he opted for early retirement.

Wang Fujian was finally detained in December 2023. In December 2025, the Zhengzhou Intermediate Court sentenced him to 12 years in prison for fraud and bribery, fining him 400,000 yuan.