Death 'followed food-tube error'

An elderly woman died after an error by nurses resulted in liquid food entering one of her lungs through a feeding tube, the Coroner's Court heard yesterday.

Lee Kuan-sin, 88, died at Queen Elizabeth Hospital on July 29 last year after about a litre of milk and congee was mistakenly pumped into the lung five days earlier.

The court heard the woman died from pneumonia.

Ms Lee, who was a patient at the Chi Lin Home for the Aged in Wong Tai Sin, was suffering from dementia and had problems eating.

These difficulties resulted in nurses feeding her through a tube inserted through the nose.

The grandmother also suffered from chronic chest infections and had been admitted to Queen Elizabeth Hospital and Kowloon Hospital on several occasions.