HKU-Shenzhen Hospital told to pay family after mistake

Eunice Lam

The University of Hong Kong-Shenzhen Hospital has to compensate a 77-year-old patient's family after it cut her tumorless pancreas and died two months later.

A Shenzhen court ruled that the hospital has to bear all responsibilities for the medical incident in 2018 and compensate the family with 620,000 yuan (HK$674,000).

Xun Jie, the daughter of female patient Zhang Yuhua, said she respected the court's judgment but still wanted to hold the doctor criminally responsible, mainland media reported.

The judgment said Zhang underwent a body check at the hospital in August 2018 and was admitted after she was found to have gallstones.

After further checkups, the hospital found Zhang had "a high possibility of having a pancreatic malignant tumor" and that she needed to undergo an operation to remove her pancreas and spleen.

But Zhang passed away two months later due to severe liver failure and hepatorenal syndrome - a serious complication of severe scarring of the liver with a critically poor prognosis.

After Zhang died, Xun found in her mother's clinical records that both the presurgery checkup and the surgical pathology report showed she did not suffer from a pancreatic tumor or disease.

In August 2019, Zhang's family filed a civil suit against the hospital at Shenzhen Futian People's Court.

A forensic report result showed the hospital made the diagnosis of pancreatic cancer without a further comprehensive checkup, and the surgery had brought huge trauma to Zhang. The hospital had a 60 to 90 percent liability for her death, it said. The court of first instance ruled the hospital had to pay a compensation of 470,000 yuan. The hospital expressed its discontent with the judgment and filed an appeal.

In November last year, the court ruled the hospital had to bear the full responsibility and compensate Zhang's family a total of 620,000 yuan.

Xun said she had filed a complaint to the Shenzhen Municipal Health Commission in October 2020 in hopes the surgeon's medical qualification be revoked.

But in the commission's reply in December the same year, it said despite the hospital having violated the law, the incident had occurred more than two years ago and it would not impose administrative penalty on the hospital.

Xun also filed a report to the Shenzhen Public Security Bureau in May 2021. But as of Wednesday, no arrest had been made and public security officers were still investigating, according to mainland media.

Mainland legal scholar Zhuo Xiaoqin, who is experienced in handling medical disputes, said victims of medical incidents should first make a copy of their medical records as evidence.

Patients could also contact local medical committees to seek professional opinions, he added.

If patients and the hospital cannot reach a settlement, they can then file a lawsuit as well as a complaint, Zhuo said, adding administrative punishment against the hospital can be used as evidence in court.

eunice.lam@singtaonewscorp.com