Doctors perplexed, father angry over hospital death of 2-year-old

Mystery surrounds the death of a two-year-old boy hours after he was admitted to Prince of Wales Hospital vomiting and with a fever.

Flu, severe acute respiratory syndrome and several other possible causes of death had been ruled out, said consultant doctor Cheung Kam-lau, who specialises in children's medicine at the hospital in Sha Tin.

A postmortem examination was to be performed on the boy, Yeung-yeung. Dr Cheung said his heart had stopped and he had suffered septic shock.

Yeung-yeung, who lived with his parents and older sister in Ma On Shan, in the New Territories, died 10 days ago. The boy's father said he had not yet dared tell his daughter that her brother was dead.

The boy was taken to the hospital's accident and emergency department on February 25, four days after he had seen a family doctor.

He was admitted to a ward, where blood and urine tests were carried out and he was put on an intravenous drip, the hospital said.

But his condition suddenly deteriorated about 151/2 hours after he arrived at the hospital.