Hong Kong cancer patient dies 3 weeks after incorrect opening in abdomen
Tseung Kwan O Hospital investigating death of 85-year-old patient with transverse colon cancer, who received stoma surgery on February 7
A Hong Kong hospital has launched an investigation after an elderly patient with colon cancer died three weeks after surgeons carried out a medical procedure on the wrong organ.
Tseung Kwan O Hospital said on Friday the 85-year-old patient died on Tuesday after undergoing stoma surgery on February 7. The procedure involved creating a surgical opening on the abdomen, known as a stoma, to alleviate an intestinal obstruction.
In the time between the operation and her death, the patient was monitored in the intensive care unit (ICU) and the surgical ward at Tseung Kwan O Hospital before being transferred to Haven of Hope Hospital on February 16 for rehabilitation.
Tseung Kwan O Hospital said the patient, whose vital signs had been stable, had a consistent and relatively high output from her stoma during her stay in the rehabilitation hospital, and later suffered from abdominal pain, a drop in blood pressure and an accelerated heart rate on Sunday afternoon.
The transverse colon cancer patient was sent back to Tseung Kwan O Hospital the next day for treatment. The transverse colon is the longest part of the colon and is variable in position.
“The patient received an emergency CAT scan on March 3. It showed that her stoma was located in the stomach, rather than the intended transverse colon,” the hospital said.