The struggle for Hong Kong’s old and sick to die with dignity

A murder-suicide that highlighted the plight of elderly people struggling to cope with major health issues has led to renewed calls for the government to improve end-of-life care services

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Hong Kong’s population is ageing rapidly and the number suffering dementia is rising, yet there were only an estimated 19 palliative care specialists in the city as of last year. Photo: Shutterstock

Published: 6:15pm, 22 Jul 2017Updated: 12:00pm, 23 Jul 2017

A few months ago, tragedy struck in a 15th-floor flat in Diamond Hill, where police discovered 58-year-old Au Kin-ming had jumped to his death after strangling his 56-year-old dementia-suffering wife, Fung Shuk-ying.

Au, who himself suffered from a skin condition, sent a heartbreaking text message to his siblings moments before the murder, confessing he felt “hopeless” because of his wife’s illness.

The shocking case was just the latest murder-suicide in the city, which in recent years have typically involved elderly couples where at least one spouse had a serious health problem.

Experts have warned that Hong Kong’s old and sick residents would be left with no choice but to commit suicide to end their suffering if the government failed to urgently overhaul its inadequate end-of-life care services.

“The couple’s deaths should serve as a wake-up call for the authorities,” said Paul Yip Siu-fai, director of the Centre for Suicide Research and Prevention at the University of Hong Kong.

“Services for the elderly are far from adequate. With its rapidly ageing population, Hong Kong must do better to meet the social, physical and psychological needs of its elderly folk.”