The family of an 84-year-old man, Yuen Chung Kun, who died last year says that his death was caused by gross negligence on the part of the public Yan Chai Hospital in Tsuen Wan, and that they are considering legal action.
They claim that the hospital staff neglected a bedsore that Yuen had developed, causing it to become infected, with the resulting ulcer apparently growing to the size of a tennis ball, and ultimately claiming his life, reports the SCMP.
Yan Chai Hospital denies the claims, saying that although they apologize for their failure to inform Yuen’s family about the ulcer, they did not neglect the patient. They deny the family’s accusations that staff did not change his diaper for extended periods of time, that they did not change Yuen’s position frequently, and that they did not treat the ulcer.
A spokesman for the hospital said that Yuen’s ulcer had grown while he was in hospital due to the nature of his condition and because he was “not very cooperative”. The family responded that Yuen was too old and frail to resist any treatment.
Yuen Chung Kun had been admitted to the hospital in January of last year with a fever and a urinary tract infection, and stayed there for 21 days before being discharged. His family discovered the infected bedsore, which at that point had deteriorated into a stage 4 pressure ulcer—the most serious kind—and they sent him to the private Tsuen Wan Adventist Hospital. Yuen died eight months later from sepsis.
Yuen also had a history of obesity, diabetes, and hypertension.
Photo: Hospital Authority website
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