519 medical errors listed

A total of 519 medical blunders, including one in which a patient died, were recorded in the first six months of last year, health chiefs said yesterday.

They involved medical staff giving incorrect dosages, labelling drugs incorrectly and attempting to give patients the wrong medicine.

One of the blunders involved an 89-year-old man who died after being injected accidentally with undiluted potassium chloride at Sha Tin Hospital on June 30. An inquest is due to be held but a date has yet to be fixed.

The man was prescribed the mixture to boost potassium levels, but undiluted forms of the drug can cause death by slowing the heartbeat.

A Hospital Authority spokesman said that an incident-reporting programme had been launched to improve and monitor medical quality in hospitals.

He said the authority also had plans to remove all concentrated forms of potassium chloride from wards.