Wrong medicines, surgical items left inside patients: Hong Kong public hospitals post 26 serious mishaps

Public hospitals recorded 26 serious medical incidents in the final quarter of last year, the Hospital Authority’s latest report shows.

The incidents included six cases in which surgical items were left inside patients after operations; one patient suicide; two cases of surgery being carried out on the wrong part of a patient’s body; 13 of incorrect drugs being prescribed and four of patients being misidentified.

The report said cases of surgical items being left in the body were the most common type of mishap in the year 2013-14. The root cause of the problem was a lack of awareness in checking that instruments were intact and inadequate communication among staff.

In one such case, a patient had a 29cm segment of tube left inside them after an operation to insert a tube into the bladder was interrupted when the doctor cut his finger on a surgical instrument. The problem was discovered in an examination 11 days later.

The report said the doctor was distracted by his injury and did not check that he had removed the complete tube. The doctor also failed to communicate properly with a nurse, it added.

In another case, a broken 9cm segment of a feeding tube was found in a patient’s upper throat during a procedure to insert a new tube.