A grand jury has indicted Mission Viejo, California, dermatologist Yue “Emily” Yu, MD, PhD, for allegedly poisoning her radiologist husband using liquid drain cleaner.
She faces four felony counts and more than eight years in prison if convicted, the Orange County District Attorney’s Office announced April 5.
Jack Chen, MD, began noticing a strange taste in his daily cup of tea in April 2022. When the problem persisted, he set up a camera in the family’s Irvine, California, kitchen. On three separate occasions in July 2022, the device captured Yu pouring a substance out of a bottle of drain cleaner into the beverage while it rested on the counter. Chen suffered from stomach ulcers resulting from the alleged poisoning, according to local authorities.
“Our homes should be where we feel the safest,” Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer said in an announcement of the indictment. “Yet, a licensed medical professional capitalized on her husband’s daily rituals to torment her husband by systematically plying his tea with a Drano-like substance intending to cause him pain and suffering.”
Chen collected samples of his beverage and shared them with the Irvine Police Department. The FBI later confirmed that the substance contained such household chemicals. Authorities arrested 45-year-old Yu in August 2022 under suspicion of poisoning, but released her when she posted the required $30,000 bond. She has denied the allegations, according to previously published reports.
Under terms of the indictment, Yu must report to the Medical Board of California, which will decide whether she can continue practicing medicine. She is scheduled to be arraigned on April 18.
Chen, who was 53 at the time of the incident, has since filed for divorce following 10 years of marriage, the New York Post reported. He also has been granted full custody of their two children. Chen has previously practiced interventional and diagnostic radiology in Tarzana, California, and was affiliated with multiple medical centers in the area, according to Doximity.
Marty Stempniak has covered healthcare since 2012, with his byline appearing in the American Hospital Association's member magazine, Modern Healthcare and McKnight's. Prior to that, he wrote about village government and local business for his hometown newspaper in Oak Park, Illinois. He won a Peter Lisagor and Gold EXCEL awards in 2017 for his coverage of the opioid epidemic.