Hong Kong’s Medical Council is under mounting pressure to account for its disciplinary procedures after concerns were raised about its handling of a second alleged blunder, this time involving an endoscopy that left a patient in a vegetative state.
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The council is already under fire from authorities and the city’s ombudsman for its handling of an inquiry into another alleged blunder that left a child disabled for life.
The latest allegations centred around the treatment of hospitalised patient Andy Chan Suk-wai, with his sister Kitty Chan speaking to the media on Sunday and accusing the council of closing her brother’s case “haphazardly” after four years.
She also said she had started a civil action against a general surgeon and an anaesthetist, accusing both of professional misconduct.
Her brother, 50, went for an endoscopy at a clinic in Kowloon in July 2021, and his blood pressure and blood oxygen levels plummeted within 20 minutes of going under anaesthesia.
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Doctors then tried to bring him round, but he was sent to hospital with high blood pressure and pulse rate. He then momentarily fell into pulseless electrical activity, a form of cardiac arrest.