Unsupervised procedures by nursing students ‘occurred multiple times’, family of dead Hong Kong patient says as they reject hospital’s apology
Wife of deceased patient slams hospital and says management is involved in a cover-up
The family of a 61-year-old man who died after a nursing student performed a medical procedure on him without supervision has alleged that the breach in protocol had occurred multiple times, and called for a review of the system.
The man’s wife, surnamed Tong, said dealing with her husband’s death was like “being pierced by knives daily”. She recalled seeing student nurses performing tracheal suction – clearing the patient’s airway of mucus – on him.
The woman and her daughter met members of the media on Wednesday, two days after Tuen Mun Hospital revealed details of the death.
The man, a former crane operator and the family’s breadwinner, was recovering from a tongue cancer operation. He had been in hospital since late July and had a tracheotomy tube inserted after a temporary opening was made in his airway.
On August 4, a nursing student working in the hospital’s surgical ward tried to perform the suction procedure on Tong, as he was feeling uncomfortable because he was retaining sputum.
The student’s attempt was unsuccessful and when a small amount of blood was found in Tong’s vomit, she sought immediate help from a duty nurse.
Despite other nurses and doctors trying to resuscitate him, his condition deteriorated and he died last Saturday.
