Elderly woman dies in Hong Kong hospital after feeding tube is mistakenly inserted into her lung

Tseung Kwan O Hospital has apologised to the family of a 92-year-old woman who died after a feeding tube was inserted into her lung instead of her stomach.

The woman, who had suffered a stroke and had dementia, was transferred to the hospital on Tuesday from the nearby Haven of Hope Hospital, which specialises in geriatric care.

A nurse inserted the tube at 4pm that day. An X-ray was also carried out. Milk was fed through the tube at noon on Wednesday; an hour later the patient began to have trouble breathing.

She was admitted to intensive care where a doctor reviewed the X-ray and discovered the error. She died just after midnight.

Louis Shih Tai-cho, president of the Medical Association, said inquiries should focus on why a doctor had initially failed to spot the mistake from the X-ray, which he said should have been easy to see. "Specialists should be reviewing an image if it is too blurry or if the stomach is overlapping the lung," he added.

"This is a serious issue," the Patients' Right Association said.