Patient died after lung was punctured by tube
An inquest jury yesterday returned a verdict of misadventure over the death of a 59-year-old woman whose right lung was punctured by a misplaced feeding tube.
In a unanimous verdict, the five-member jury accepted that the causes of the death of Patricia Yeung Yeung Pui-lan were haemothorax - flooding of blood into her right lung cavity - a 1.5cm cut on the upper lobe of her right lung and a blood-clotting problem.
The court had heard that an autopsy had found one litre of blood and a blood clot in her right lung cavity.
A chief radiologist at Queen Mary Hospital, Chan Fu-luk, yesterday testified that a chest X-ray was taken after a feeding tube was twice inserted into Yeung.
'The configuration and position of the tube suggest that most likely it had been incorrectly placed in the trachebronchial system, puncturing the right lung to enter the right pleural cavity,' he said.
Miranda Chan, an expert witness who was a consultant of surgery at Kwong Wah Hospital, said Yeung's deterioration and death was directly related to the misplacement of the feeding tube. 'It was highly likely that the laceration was inflicted during the insertion of [the tube].'
Coroner Michael Chan Pik-kiu earlier heard Yeung, who was in the end stage of renal failure, had her left leg amputated on June 19 last year in Queen Mary Hospital. Her right leg below the knee had been amputated in 1997.
She was transferred to the intensive care unit after surgery and developed a fever and pneumonia.
The court heard that on June 27, a chest X-ray showed a small feeding tube had been inserted into the oesophagus. It was removed and re-inserted.
Yeung's condition deteriorated about half an hour later and she died the next day.
The jury suggested that the Hospital Authority provide doctors with intensive training and assessment on inserting feeding tubes.
The authority and the Queen Mary Hospital said they would consider the recommendations.
