AN inquest jury yesterday recommended that electronic monitoring devices be used to measure oxygen levels of critically ill patients when transporting them between or within hospitals.
The jurors endorsed a recommendation made by expert witness Dr Tony Gin, senior lecturer and honorary consultant anaesthetist at the Chinese University, after returning a verdict of death by misadventure on Filipina Marilyn Ventura, 31.
During the inquest, Dr Gin suggested the continuous monitoring of oxygenation with an oximeter - an instrument for gauging oxygen content in blood - was needed when patients were being transported.
He did not believe medical staff involved in the case were negligent, but he said there had been deficiencies in the care of the deceased.
''They all appear to have acted to the best of their ability in trying to treat the deceased, who was critically ill at the time and required emergency surgery,'' Dr Gin said.
The inquest heard that Ventura died of hypostatic pneumonia, caused by a prolonged coma due to head injuries in October 1991, at Queen Elizabeth Hospital.