Teen's death was misadventure, jury rules
Upset mother of 13-year-old boy who died says her son was 'sacrificed' so doctors could learn
A jury yesterday unanimously returned a verdict of misadventure on the death of a boy whose breathing tube was removed shortly after his neck surgery.
The verdict means a lawful act has an unexpected consequence - in this case, one which caused 13-year-old Medwin Cheung Yui-ting's death.
After learning of the ruling, Cheung's mother Cheng Miu-wah said: "My son … was regrettably sacrificed in a medical system which suffers from manpower shortage and is full of errors and negligence.
"My son has used his precious life to give the Hospital Authority and doctors a valuable lesson."
Cheung underwent occipital-cervical fusion surgery to fix two misaligned neck bones at Tuen Mun Hospital on August 4, 2011, and died there on August 22. The court earlier heard that everything had gone well until Cheung woke up after the operation.
As he was awake, doctors removed his oxygen tube, but only one or two minutes later, he started having breathing difficulties.