Hong Kong hospital must find answer in case of missing brain
The latest incident involving the organ of an elderly woman is not only disrespectful to the deceased, but also says something about the way medical samples are handled
Embarrassed managers at North District Hospital are trying to find out what happened to the organ that was removed from a 71-year-old woman suffering from a mental disorder. She died of unknown causes three days after being admitted to the hospital in late February and a postmortem examination was carried out.
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According to the hospital, her brain was stored at the sample room inside the mortuary, but staff could not find it when an examination was due last Wednesday. After searching without success, it alerted the pathology department on Thursday, with the public being told the following day.
The hospital has rightly apologised for the incident. This is not just disrespectful to the deceased. It says something about the way medical samples are handled, even though hospital managers announced there was no evidence of human error.
Establishing what went wrong and punishing those responsible is the first step. This is not just for the sake of accountability and redress. More importantly, the authority needs to identify inadequacies and put better measures in place.
It may be unrealistic to expect our health care system to be error-free. But the Hospital Authority is expected to minimise mishaps with institutional safeguards and due diligence. It must investigate thoroughly and learn from the latest case.
