An inquest will be held to determine how a 52-year-old man died
yesterday morning after receiving contaminated blood in Tuen Mun
Hospital in Hong Kong last week.
Wong Yun-cheun received the blood transfusion on January 3. He
suffered from chronic liver disease and anemia.
His family said they reserved the right to sue the hospital if
an investigation by an expert panel formed by the Hospital
Authority determines that his death was caused by human
negligence.
As of last night, the man's family had not yet discussed
compensation with the hospital.
Wong went into shock, had a severe shortness of breath and his
blood pressure dropped two hours after the transfusion.
He was transferred to the intensive care unit and died at 2:16
am yesterday.
Laboratory tests found that the patient's blood and blood bag
were contaminated with Pseudomonas fluorescens bacterium.
On Sunday, hospital officials said that the transfusion had been
conducted according to guidelines and that the blood had been
stored and handled properly.
University of Hong Kong professor Yuen Kwok-yung, chairman of
the review panel, said the incident could be related to the blood
bags and blood storage fridge, but no systematic problem or
abnormality was found yesterday.
He said the cause of death can not be found in 90 percent of the
cases where patients die from blood transfusions.
The panel went to the Red Cross' Blood Transfusion Center and to
Tuen Mun Hospital yesterday to observe blood donations and the
transfusion process.
To lower the chance of future blood contamination, the panel
members suggested timing blood donations to ensure the skin had
enough time to sterilize and reduce contamination of blood bags,
Yuen said.
He also recommended that if a patient goes into shock after a
transfusion, antibiotics should be given immediately to increase
his or her survival rate.
Ho Pak-leung, an associate professor of microbiology at the
University of Hong Kong, said investigations by the panel and
Coroner were different.
He said any unidentified cause of death, such as in this case,
would be referred to the Coroner. And in this case, it was unknown
why the bacteria existed in the blood bag, he said.
(China Daily January 8, 2008)