Pair died after drugs mix up: court
Two of five elderly patients wrongly given diabetes medicine at the Wong Tai Sin clinic of Ronald Li Sai-lai died of misadventure, and the other three of natural causes, a Coroner's Court jury ruled yesterday.
Delivering a misadventure ruling on Zee Kuo-foong, 83, and Fan Chu, 80, the jury decided they died as a result of an abnormal fall in blood sugar after taking the diabetes drug Gliclazide instead of a stomach remedy.
Coroner William Lam Kui-po told the jury that if they felt the deaths were linked to low blood glucose in relation to taking the drug, the verdict should be misadventure.
In Zee's case, the jury decided that his glucose level fell after taking the diabetes drug, causing complications that led to his death from aspiration pneumonia on May 2.
The court had heard that Zee enjoyed good health apart from lung surgery three decades earlier.