Hong Kong’s Prince of Wales Hospital ‘deprived family of right to know’ possible diagnoses before daughter died
- Hospital Authority says confirmation was needed before disclosing suspected illnesses, and argues for a verdict of natural death
The family of a five-year-old girl who died before doctors could diagnose her four-month illness have accused Prince of Wales Hospital of depriving them of the right to know the medics’ suspicions.
Speaking at the Coroner’s Court on Wednesday, Wong Pui-yi said in tears that her family had trusted doctors to care for her daughter, Leung Hoi-ching, but were not told she might have been suffering from pulmonary hypertension, which she eventually died of on March 27, 2016.
“Had we known sooner, we could have consulted other experts or gone to private hospitals for suitable treatment,” the mother said. “It would have been easier for us to accept.”
But Hong Kong’s Hospital Authority sidestepped criticism of the doctors’ decision to keep the family in the dark, highlighting instead the rarity of Leung’s condition. A lawyer for the authority, which manages the city’s public hospitals, argued for a verdict of natural death.
Wednesday’s closing submissions came after the court heard doctors recount their treatment of the child, who was first admitted to North District Hospital in Sheung Shui on November 15, 2015, after she suddenly fainted and experienced seizures.
Leung was transferred on the same day to Alice Ho Miu Ling Nethersole Hospital in Tai Po, where doctors found her blood count decreasing and her liver and spleen growing beyond the rib cage.
Suspecting she had leukaemia, staff sent Leung to Prince of Wales Hospital in Sha Tin, where doctors ruled out cancer after multiple tests.
She was discharged on November 19, given iron supplements and told to return for follow-up appointments. She attended six between November 26, 2015 and February 29, 2016.
Prince of Wales Hospital’s Dr Samantha Lee Lai-ka said an abdominal ultrasound conducted on January 18, 2016 suggested Leung might have been suffering from early stage cirrhosis.
The doctor also suspected the child had pulmonary hypertension – high blood pressure in the arteries to the lungs. Leung had an unusual heartbeat and occasional breathing difficulties.
She was scheduled to undergo lung function tests on April 5 and a gastroscopy on May 19, as well as meet cardiac and metabolic specialists.
But she died suddenly on March 27, two weeks after vomiting blood, which Dr Jennifer Mou Wa-cheung thought was the result of intestinal bleeding caused by poor blood coagulation.
Coroner’s officer Lily Ho May-yu said: “Prince of Wales Hospital emphasised on multiple occasions that Hoi-ching’s condition was not life-threatening.”
Wong said that recollection of events was true. Dr Lee meanwhile, when asked why the family was not immediately told of the possible diagnoses, said she had wanted to wait for confirmation to avoid unnecessary worry among the family.
But Wong said this had led the girl’s father to inform paramedics administering emergency treatment on the morning she died that Leung suffered from haemolytic anaemia.
The Hospital Authority’s lawyer stressed Leung’s condition was “very, very rare”, and that she had not shown obvious symptoms such as fatigue, chest pains or heart palpitations. She then died “very, very, very suddenly”, she said.
The lawyer also argued doctors had conducted a lot of examinations and considered many possibilities in treating Leung. She urged the jury to consider the prospect that the child died of natural causes.
Coroner Stephanie Tsui will sum up the case for the jury on Thursday.
