Patient left suicide note complaining of nurses' bad attitude

A patient with breathing difficulties jumped six floors to his death after leaving a note accusing doctors and nurses of ignoring his requests to replace a malfunctioning oxygen mask, the Coroner's Court heard yesterday.

But medical staff of Princess Margaret Hospital told the inquest into the death of Ho Man-sum that they had changed the mask several times although they had never spotted any fault in his breathing apparatus.

The inquest before coroner Michael Chan Pik-kiu is seeking to find out why Ho, a 50-year-old man with no history of depression or mental illness, would choose to end his life on a day when his symptoms had stabilised.

Ho's younger daughter, Ho Ka-wai, told the coroner her father had often complained about the oxygen mask during his stay in the hospital.

'He complained every other day that the mask did not provide enough air, but he said the nurses never paid him much attention, yet he wouldn't allow us to file complaints because he was afraid they would be even worse to him if he did,' she said.

On the night of August 6 last year, hours after what a ward inmate described as a happy family gathering, Ho unplugged the tubes connecting him to life-support systems, smashed a window and jumped out.

In his death note, Ho - who also suffered asthma and a bone disease called avascular necrosis - begged for a better oxygen mask and tranquillisers to ease his pain.