Latest news with #CaritasMedicalCentre
South China Morning Post
21-07-2025
- Health
- South China Morning Post
Hong Kong teen dies after being found unconscious in bedroom with ‘space oil' drug
A 17-year-old has died in a Hong Kong hospital after being found unconscious in his bedroom, where police also discovered the narcotic 'space oil', the Post has learned. A police source said on Monday that the teenager's mother had attempted to wake him at their home in Cheung Sha Wan at around 8.45am on Sunday. He was rushed to Caritas Medical Centre in Sham Shui Po, where he was declared dead at 9.49am on Sunday. A police spokesman said officers discovered multiple dangerous substances in the flat, including a vape device containing liquid etomidate, the main ingredient in the drug commonly known as 'space oil'. Cannabis and ketamine were also seized. The source said the 'space oil' was inside the bedroom where the teenager was found. There were no suspicious injuries on his body, but he had multiple self-inflicted wounds on his shoulders and forearms. The teenager did not leave the flat on Saturday. At around 5am the following morning, his father saw him using the bathroom and said he appeared normal. The father also reminded him to take his prescribed psychiatric medication, which he did before returning to his room.
South China Morning Post
28-06-2025
- Health
- South China Morning Post
Appendicitis surgery blunder puts spotlight on Hong Kong public hospital safety
A recent surgical blunder involving a doctor mistakenly removing a patient's fallopian tube instead of her appendix has cast doubt on Hong Kong public hospitals' ability to effectively implement safety protocols and allocate manpower, advocates have said. Caritas Medical Centre revealed the blunder on Friday, which began with a 48-year-old woman being admitted for appendicitis last Tuesday. A higher surgical trainee performed a laparoscopic appendectomy on the patient the next day but wrongly removed her fallopian tube after misidentifying the organ, an error attributed to 'tissue adhesion near the surgical site', according to the public hospital. The mistake was only discovered five days later, on Monday, after the patient's condition failed to improve and a pathology report on Wednesday confirmed the wrong organ had been excised, forcing her to undergo a second operation. The hospital apologised for the incident and requested its department of surgery to undergo a review of its staffing deployment, supervision and coaching, among other aspects. Alex Lam Chi-yau, chairman of patient advocacy group Hong Kong Patients' Voices, described the incident as 'extremely serious' and a throwback to another case in March last year in which a woman's uterus had been wrongly removed due to mishandled lab samples. The Hospital Authority said in March that it would adopt six measures after a series of medical blunders last year. They included building a database to log patients' post-operation wounds.
South China Morning Post
27-06-2025
- Health
- South China Morning Post
Hong Kong father's anguish after inquest rules teen died of natural causes
A coroner's inquest has ruled that a 14-year-old girl died of natural causes after developing acute myocarditis in Hong Kong three years ago, despite her father's insistence that her death was linked to coronavirus vaccinations. The girl's father, Tai Shun-keung, called Friday's ruling 'unacceptable', stating that the incident had torn his family apart and led him to depression. A five-member jury at the Coroner's Court delivered a unanimous verdict on Friday, following a three-day inquiry, that Tai Yee-ting died of natural causes at Caritas Medical Centre in Cheung Sha Wan in May 2022. The inquest specifically investigated whether her death was related to the two BioNTech coronavirus vaccine doses she received during the Covid-19 pandemic. She had her first jab in January 2022 and the second in April of the same year. Yee-ting felt tired and vomited before she was taken to see a private doctor on May 5, 2022. She presented with symptoms such as fatigue, loss of appetite and a low fever. The doctor diagnosed her as having gastroenteritis and prescribed medication.
South China Morning Post
03-06-2025
- General
- South China Morning Post
Faulty prostate cancer tests leave 406 Hong Kong patients with nervy wait
Hong Kong public hospitals are reviewing blood test results of more than 400 patients after batches of a reagent were found to have quality issues that could produce false positives for prostate cancer Advertisement The Hospital Authority said on Tuesday that it was following up with the supplier of a testing product after being notified by the firm last week about complaints elsewhere related to quality issues. The product, supplied by Abbott Laboratories, is a reagent kit that detects the level of prostate-specific antigen (PSA) in blood. An elevated level may be a sign of prostate cancer. The product's quality issues could 'potentially lead to a misdiagnosis of prostate cancer, causing doctors to erroneously consider unnecessary treatments', the authority said. Two batches of the affected products were sent to Caritas Medical Centre in Sham Shui Po and Tuen Mun Hospital. Advertisement While Tuen Mun Hospital had not started to use the product, Caritas Medical Centre had already tested blood samples of 406 patients with the PSA kit since April 28. It has reviewed the test results and will contact about 70 patients this week, and rearrange blood tests based on their clinical needs.
