And doing some of this for a profit...BD

NANJING, China -- Mi Zhantao, a poor 25-year-old living with his parents outside this provincial capital in eastern China, was battling depression and had trouble socializing. Doctors said he had schizophrenia. They recommended brain surgery. Mr. Mi's family spent about $4,800 -- the equivalent of four years' income, and more than their life savings -- on the operation, at No. 454 Hospital of the People's Liberation Army in Nanjing. The highly controversial procedure involved drilling tiny holes in the young man's skull, inserting a 7½-inch-long needle and burning small areas of brain tissue thought to be causing his problems.

The irreversible brain surgeries performed at No. 454 Hospital, which are all but blacklisted for mental illness in the developed world, are being done across China. They are a symptom of the problems plaguing the nation's health-care system, which has left hospitals with scant public funding and hungry for profit.

Dr. Wang, head of neurosurgery at No. 454 Hospital, defends the procedure. "There are so many mental-disease patients," he says. "In many of the mental-disease hospitals, 30% to 50% of the patients cannot be treated by medicine. And these patients have caused a great burden to their families and society."

In China, Brain Surgery Is Pushed on the Mentally Ill - WSJ.com

Hat Tip:  Kevin, MD

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