Dermatologist accused of poisoning husband claims Drano for cleaning

A dermatologist who was caught allegedly pouring Drano into her husband’s lemonade says he made up the poisoning claim as part of a custody battle.

The California dermatologist who was caught on a nanny cam allegedly pouring Drano into her husband’s lemonade was using the chemicals to unclog pipes — and the man fabricated the poisoning claim as part of a custody battle, according to her lawyer.

Yue “Emily” Yu, 45, was arrested last week after her husband, Jack Chen, accused her of repeatedly spiking his drink with the caustic drain cleaner.

As of Friday morning, Ms Yu had been released on bail and had not been charged with a crime, the NY Post reported.

“The idea that my client, who is a 45-year-old well-respected dermatologist in Orange County, would destroy her life, destroy her children’s lives and try to kill her husband is just completely absurd and untrue, and for that matter defamatory,” lawyer David Wohl told CBS Los Angeles.

Yue ‘Emily’ Yu, 45, was arrested last week. Picture: Irvine Police Department

Mr Chen’s lawyer claimed that the husband, who works as a radiologist, allegedly documented his wife pouring the Drano into his hot lemonade beverage on three separate occasions at their home.

But Mr Wohl insisted that Ms Yu was actually using the cleaning solution to unclog a drain. He added that what the nanny cam videos actually showed was the wife pouring the Drano into an empty cup so it would not splash.

“Anytime she poured Drano into a cup it was completely empty,” the lawyer said. “It was for facilitating use in the sink or any other part of the house that was clogged as far as the drainage goes.”

Mr Wohl stressed that Ms Yu never poured any Drano — or any other chemical — into Mr Chen’s drink, saying “that’s completely untrue.”

The lawyer further argued that Mr Chen had concocted the poisoning allegations because he was “desperate” to divorce Ms Yu and gain custody of the couple’s two children.

As of Friday morning, Yu had not been charged with a crime.

“We believe completely that these claims he made are all part and parcel of that effort,” Mr Wohl said.

Mr Chen said through his lawyer that he had been noticing a chemical taste in his lemonade and was diagnosed with stomach ulcers, gastritis and inflammation of the oesophagus.

Last week, Mr Chen filed paperwork with a court seeking a restraining order against his wife of 10 years.

He claimed mistreatment by Ms Yu that included physical and verbal abuse of their children — even alleging that she had once yelled at them to “go die.”

“When Emily gets frustrated and yells at the children, she’ll commonly use a Chinese phrase that translates to ‘go die!’ She also says to the children, ‘your head has a problem, ‘your head is sick, ‘go f **k yourself,’ ‘f**ing idiot,’ ‘stupid a**hole,’ and ‘get the f**k out of my way,’” Mr Chen wrote in the court document obtained by The Post.

Ms Yu even deprived the children, now eight and seven, of sleep if they went to bed before she wanted them to, Mr Chen alleged.

This article originally appeared on NY Post and was reproduced with permission