75-year-old patient dies after dietary blunder in Hong Kong hospital

A 75-year-old Hong Kong resident with swallowing difficulty choked and then died after he was fed with the wrong food by a student nurse at Caritas Medical Centre, in a blunder which the hospital said was caused by misinterpretation of dietary advice by the healthcare team.

The hospital in Sham Shui Po on Wednesday made a public apology, and said a root cause analysis panel would be formed to look into details of the case and measures preventing similar incidents in the future.

“This is a very unfortunate incident,” said Dr Alexander Law Chun-bon, cluster chief executive of the Kowloon West group of public hospitals.

“On behalf of the Hospital Authority and the cluster, I would like to apologise to the public and to the patient’s family.”

The blunder happened on Monday, three days after the 75-year-old man was admitted to the hospital for a bloated stomach and lack of defecation.

The man, who had to initially fast and receive intravenous injection for hydration on admission, was allowed by doctors on Monday to return to his usual diet, after showing signs of improvement.

The man, who had a history of high blood pressure and dementia, had been eating puréed meals since February.