Doctor tells court of bid to stop bleeding

A surgeon yesterday told an inquest he had tried various means to stop the profuse bleeding suffered by a patient undergoing keyhole surgery at Hong Kong Adventist Hospital.

John Boey was operating to remove non-cancerous growths from the adrenal gland of Ng Keong-ching, a former general manager of Swire Beverages. He said the bleeding became very heavy within two minutes.

The Coroner's Court has heard Ng, 55, lost 10 litres of blood. He died two days later, on June 9, 2005.

Answering questions from coroner's officer Kathie Cheung, Dr Boey - a surgeon with 20 years in private practice and formerly a senior lecturer at the University of Hong Kong - said he identified the area from which the blood was coming but had difficulty finding the wound, which was on the inferior vena cava.

The inferior vena cava is a major vein carrying blood from the lower half of the body back to the heart.

Cross-examined by Raymond Leung Wai-man, representing Ng's family, Dr Boey said he had performed more than 60 similar operations. But he admitted that only five or six of these had been performed using keyhole surgery.