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Clifford Lo

Firefighters have rescued a 75-year-old bedridden cancer patient in a Hong Kong flat and found her younger brother who cared for her dead in the bathroom.
The man might have died last week and the woman could have been left without food or water for days.
It was the third instance in a month of elderly people who lived alone or relied on ageing carers being found dead at home long after they died.
A social worker tried to visit the pair at Paramount Mansion on Shan Kwong Road in Happy Valley at around 4pm on Tuesday. The woman and her 71-year-old brother were last seen at home the previous Wednesday.

“The woman was very weak when emergency workers found her. An initial examination showed she suffered from dehydration,” the source said. “It is possible that the woman could have been left unattended without food and water for several days.”
The Post has learned the woman was bedridden and diagnosed with lymphoma, but social workers checked on the two every week.
On the latest visit, the social worker became concerned when no one answered the door and contacted a security guard.
Emergency personnel were called when the guard detected a strong odour coming from the flat.
Skeleton found at Hong Kong flat in second case of remains discovered in 2 days
Firefighters broke into the flat and found the woman in a bedroom, extremely weak but conscious, and the body of the brother in the bathroom, a source said.
Based on a newspaper published last Thursday found in the flat, they estimated he might have died last week, the insider added.
The woman had shouted for help, but no one heard her, possibly because her voice was weak due to her illness, the source said. She was taken to Ruttonjee Hospital in Wan Chai for treatment.
A preliminary investigation found nothing suspicious and an autopsy would be carried out to ascertain the cause of death of the brother, the insider added.


A skeleton was found at Lam Chuen House at Shui Chuen O Estate in Sha Tin on May 15 after Housing Authority employees visited the flat belonging to a 69-year-old male tenant. Electricity and water had not been used since September last year.
A 59-year-old woman and her 86-year-old father were found dead a day earlier by firefighters who broke into their home after a family member reported no one was answering the door during a Mother’s Day visit.
Initial examinations suggested both had developed heart problems.
Crystal Yuen Shuk-yan, a community organiser with the welfare group Society for Community Organisation, said the Happy Valley incident showed the plight some older residents faced when forced to rely on other elderly people for care.
Hong Kong police investigate fatal fall of man, 22, from Kowloon block of flats
“In such middle-class areas, where grass-roots welfare groups seldom provide services, the government should step up its services,” she said.
“Setting up more hotlines does not help much. We need to be more proactive to find out what their needs are. The government can try to coordinate community resources.”
She proposed that housewives could be mobilised to visit elderly residents who relied on older people for care.
“The Social Welfare Department can offer some training to those housewives so they will know how to approach and how to take care of the elderly at home,” Yuen said.


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Hong Kong society

Bedridden woman, 75, found in Hong Kong flat with body of brother in bathroom

A social worker tried to visit the siblings at Paramount Mansion on Shan Kwong Road in Happy Valley at around 4pm on Tuesday. Photo: Handout 

The woman was taken to Ruttonjee Hospital in Wan Chai. Photo: Nora Tam

Human skeleton found in Hong Kong flat a day after separate incident in which bodies of woman, elderly father discovered in their home

Shui Chuen O Estate in Sha Tin. Photo: SCMP

Mei Foo Sun Chuen in Lai Chi Kok. Photo: Christopher DeWolf

Hong Kong woman dies in hospital after being rescued from flat where firefighters found elderly mother’s decomposing body

The women were found in a flat in Siu Hong Court, in Tuen Mun. Photo: Handout

Generic view of Hong Kong Police Force sign at Hong Kong Police Force Headquarters in Wan Chai. 11JUN19 SCMP/ Warton Li

News

Hong Kong

Society

Social worker making weekly visit alerts security after no one answers door of Happy Valley flat
Woman was confined to bed after being diagnosed with cancer and initial investigation suggests brother died last week


Woman was confined to bed after being diagnosed with cancer and initial investigation suggests brother died last week.


Ageing society

China's ageing population