Botox doctor Franklin Li facing legal action from family of late Hong Kong banker Zoe Cheung, who died after injections at clinic in Tsim Sha Tsui
- Court documents reveal Cheung’s estate is suing the doctor for an undisclosed sum
- The doctor, 86, is also due to appear in court on criminal charges this summer
The family of a top banker who died after getting Botox injections is suing her doctor, a court writ made available on Wednesday has revealed.
Zoe Cheung Shuk-ling, 52, was certified dead at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Yau Ma Tei on November 12 last year, after collapsing the previous day at the Tsim Sha Tsui clinic of Dr Franklin Li Wang-pong, then aged 86.
The court document filed by estate managers Roni Cheung Mei-ling and Cheung Oi-ling, on behalf of the estate and her other dependents, said it was seeking damages from the doctor, although it had yet to specify the sum.
The court filing, submitted on Tuesday, accused Li of failing to prepare Cheung for the procedure and properly assess the risks associated with being injected with sedative.
There was also alleged of substandard management of Cheung when she was under anaesthetics, it said.
The document also alleged that Li had failed to give her competent resuscitation.
There was an “undue delay in summoning an ambulance thereby depriving the deceased of timely life-saving treatment resulting in hypoxic brain damage, further cardiac arrest and death”, it said.
A police source previously told the Post that Cheung, the managing director of Swiss private bank Julius Baer, was a regular customer at the clinic.
Li was arrested on suspicion of breaking the rules on the use of dangerous drugs and misleading police shortly after the fatal incidents.
He appeared at Kowloon City Court this month to face 21 charges, including two counts of attempting to mislead police, 12 counts of failing to keep proper records of dangerous drugs and seven counts of failing to keep records of dangerous drugs in the format required by law.
He has not yet been required to enter a plea.
The case was adjourned to August 5, pending a postmortem report and further legal advice.
Botox was initially developed for medical purposes, but is now more frequently applied in cosmetic procedures to prevent wrinkles or to slim targeted areas.
Hong Kong’s Dangerous Drugs Regulations state that “contraventions of regulations under the keeping of registration or other records under the ordinance” can lead to a fine of HK$450,000 (US$57,332) and up to three years in prison.
The maximum penalties for misleading a police officer are six months’ imprisonment and a HK$5,000 fine.
