Hong Kong patient in a critical condition after tube detaches from ventilator machine in isolation ward
- Kwong Wah Hospital revealed patient, 51, had been alone in an isolation ward at time of incident and staff did not hear safety alarm
- Patient’s body movements may have caused tube to become disconnected even though he was restrained with a strap, hospital chief says
A middle-aged Hong Kong tuberculosis patient has been left in a critical condition after his heart stopped when a tube detached from his ventilator machine in a suspected medical blunder.
Kwong Wah Hospital in Yau Ma Tei revealed on Thursday that the patient, 51, who had been diagnosed with pulmonary tuberculosis and was alone in an isolation ward, fell unconscious on February 5 and his heart stopped when the ventilator tube detached.
The man was resuscitated, regained a pulse and was sent to an intensive care unit for treatment, according to hospital chief executive Dr Tang Kam-shing.
Tang said the ventilator had been functioning when the tube disconnected.
Because of the isolation ward’s double doors, hospital staff did not hear the safety alarm when the tube became detached and the nurses’ station did not receive a warning from a remote-monitoring system that was connected to the patient’s vital signs machine.
It remained unclear how long the patient’s heart stopped.
