Heparin's Deadly Side Effects

A TIME investigation of China's drug industry shows that in the fight for profits, safety suffers

ROBERT ADAMO FOR TIME

Leroy Hubley, 72, lost his wife and son to heparin-related complications

Leroy Hubley, 72, married for 48 years and a father of three, has lived through tragedy no one should endure once, and he did so twice in the span of a month. Bonnie Hubley, his wife, had polycystic kidney disease, in which cysts grow in the kidneys, often becoming so large that the kidneys fail and have to be replaced. All of the Hubley children inherited the genetic disease. In 1995, Bonnie had a kidney transplant, and in October of last year, her body began to reject the replacement kidney, requiring her to start dialysis.

A month earlier and half a...

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