Tuen Mun Hospital has become enmeshed in another controversy - the latest incident followed the death of a man in the hospital on Sunday.

The hospital admitted on Tuesday that the patient had been misdiagnosed. As a result, he was given the wrong treatment.

Admitting to serious medical malpractice, the hospital said the errors led directly to the patient's death.

Albert Lo Chi-yuen, cluster chief executive for the New Territories West Cluster from the Hospital Authority denied the incident resulted from a shortage of manpower.

The 69-year-old patient was under treatment for heart disease before being admitted to the hospital. He was diagnosed with myocardial infarction after he was found unconscious after a physical workout on Nov 23. He was reported to have his head hit the ground when he fell.

The patient was given two brain scans. The first was done after he fell. He showed no symptoms of a brain hemorrhage, according to Mok Chun-keung, from the hospital's medicine and geriatrics service.

"None of the three doctors, from the emergency room, internal medicine and cardiology departments, noticed any bleeding in the scan image and also there were no symptoms of brain hemorrhage, therefore, we focused on treating the patient's heart disease," said Mok.

The patient then was treated for myocardial infarction and prescribed anticoagulant medicines, which led to patient's second collapse on Friday.

Doctors then conducted a second brain scan and found a blood clot in his head.

"It was then we compared the two scan images and found that there was slight evidence of blood leakage in the first one," said Mok. The doctors thought an operation was not needed. The patient died two days later.

Mok said if doctors had detected the leakage earlier, they would not have treated the patient with anticoagulants, which could have aggravated bleeding.

The hospital said it will consult experts on scan images, to avoid similar cases in future.

The man's death is the fourth to have cast a cloud over the hospital since August.

A boy died after cervical adjustment surgery in August. A 75-year-old man was reported to have his liver punctured during an intubation to discharge the fluid in his lung on Sept 2. A newborn had to have a leg amputated after an intravenous needle penetrated his artery and cut off circulation to his leg.

President of the Hong Kong Medical Association Choi Kin told China Daily if all the three doctors who have examined the brain scan failed to notice the bleeding, it was likely because the bleeding site was "difficult" or "not obvious" to find in the early stage.

The hospital has submitted the case to Coroner's Court. An independent investigation panel was set up to determine whether there was misconduct. The panel was expected to finish the probe in eight weeks.

Fan Feifei contributed to this story.

China Daily

(HK Edition 11/30/2011 page1)