'I want my job back', says acquitted surgeon

Xiao-Zhong Chen and his wife. Picture / Greg Bowker

Auckland heart surgeon Xiao-Zhong Chen will be forced to return to China if he is refused his job back, a situation described by one former colleague as a "tragedy and a great loss to New Zealand medicine".

At an emotional party last night to celebrate his acquittal on all charges of supplying a decongestant for the manufacture of methamphetamine, or P, Dr Chen said: "I love my job, and I just want it back."

While working in Auckland, Dr Chen performed 1200 heart operations and 300 lung operations, a number described as astonishing by colleagues. But he has been without income since December 2004 and has no guarantee of getting his job back.

"That is the next war," said former colleague Alan Kerr.

Dr Chen said last night that he would seek urgent talks with the Auckland District Health Board to see if his future lay in NZ.

If not, he would have to look to a move to Shanghai.

The heart surgeon's family cried tears of elation as eight not guilty verdicts were read out in the Auckland District Court.

A jury of seven women and four men took 25 minutes to acquit Dr Chen of all charges of supplying Telfast for the manufacture of P.

"We're just relieved, very happy that we can go back to being normal. That's the biggest thing. Normality would be very very nice," said Dr Chen's daughter, Nancy, who flew from Sydney to be by her father's side throughout the two-week trial.

She was still frustrated at how police handled the matter.

"If they had gone to the trouble in the first place, we wouldn't have had to go through these 1 years.

"We know the stupid things he does, but it's hard for other people to understand how somebody could be so naive ... He's got no idea who Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie are."

She is angry the two young Chinese nationals who duped her father into supplying them with the decongestant were allowed to skip the country within 24 hours of being granted bail.

Throughout the trial, Dr Chen's consistent testimony cast doubt on the prosecution's case that he knowingly supplied the decongestant tablets for a $250,000 gain. Dr Chen, 54, maintained that he thought the tablets were being shipped to a pharmaceutical company for sale in China. He believed the tablets - which are not available in China - would help people there.

He said he did not know about Telfast's use in manufacturing P until he saw a January 2004 TV news item.

Character testimony from colleagues and family portrayed him as honest but naive and unworldly - due to the amount of time he spent working.

His wife, Wendy Tang, testified that her husband was so dedicated to work, he took textbooks on their honeymoon. The court also heard how work - not money - was what made him happy.

Before the jurors retired to consider their verdict, Judge Fred McElrea told them they must be convinced beyond a reasonable doubt that the surgeon knew the tablets were being used to make P.

Dr Chen now hopes the Medical Council will reinstate his licence, which was suspended when the charges were laid.

At the time, he was working as a cardio-thoracic surgeon at Green Lane Hospital. He had been on a short-term contract and was on the verge of full-time employment with specialist registration.

Dr Chen had the opportunity to sign a contract while his name and details of the case were suppressed by the court. It would have meant he would have been suspended on full pay. But he told management what was happening and has been out of work since.

Not being able to work has been difficult. "I want to work," he said. "I enjoy every day, weekend and night, working in the hospital."

Dr Kerr said Dr Chen was "a truly first-class surgeon".

"If he isn't re-employed, it would be a big loss to New Zealand medicine."