Patient who 'wasn't told' about risks to nose surgery hopes landmark UK case will spearhead change in Hong Kong
A patient whose nose was permanently damaged in an operation said his private surgeon failed to warn him about the risk of complications before carrying out the routine surgery.
A patient whose nose was permanently damaged in an operation said his private surgeon failed to warn him about the risk of complications before carrying out the routine surgery.
Jacky Cheng, whose name has been changed for this article, said he first consulted a private doctor, complaining of a stuffy nose, and was advised to undergo surgery to remove an enlarged turbinate - one of several spongy bones that divide the nasal passages and maintain a steady flow of inhaled air.
"I did not plan to have surgery," said Cheng, 57. "But I trusted the doctor to be able to make better judgment than me."
The doctor did not explain to him what surgery was to be performed, how the procedure worked or whether there was any risk to the surgery, he added.
"Since it is a small operation, I asked the doctor a few questions about the wound and recovery time and whether it required general anaesthetic, but I could not think of anything else to ask at the time," Cheng said.
He underwent a procedure called septoplasty and endoscopic turbinoplasty in private at the Hong Kong Adventist Hospital in Happy Valley in 2010.
Since the surgery, Cheng has been troubled continuously by a feeling of suffocation due to poor airflow in his nose and was twice sent to an accident and emergency unit after fainting.
"I told the doctor something was wrong but he kept telling me the surgery was successful and there was no reason that I should feel like I am suffocating," he said.
Cheng later found out he was suffering from empty nose syndrome - a condition caused by excessive surgical removal of the turbinates.
"It is affecting my life, leaving me unable to sleep and struggling to concentrate at work," he said. "If the doctor had told me there was a possibility the treatment would leave me like this, I would never have agreed to it."
Cheng has filed a complaint against the surgeon to the doctors' watchdog, the Medical Council, but no disciplinary hearing has been scheduled.
"I have come forward because I want to warn other patients not to take surgery lightly, even if it is a small operation and your doctor advises you to do it," he said.
Cheng hoped a recent court case in Britain would improve the chances for people like him to win a lawsuit and change the practice of doctors who failed to properly inform or communicate with their patients.
British mother Nadine Montgomery, 40, was awarded £5.25 million (HK$63 million) compensation after a 16-year legal fight in which she claimed her doctor had failed to give her proper advice about the risks of having her son Sam by traditional birth, rather than a safer caesarean in 1999. During a 12-minute delay in delivery, Sam was deprived of oxygen, leaving him with severe disabilities.
The case was rejected by courts on two previous occasions until it was finally upheld by the Supreme Court on March 11.
Both the medical practitioners and lawyers believe the case will have huge implications for Hong Kong medical lawsuits and increase the awareness of patients' right.
