Last round of treatment cost HK$200m

Stanley Ho's family could have spent more than HK$200 million on his last round of medical treatment after outlaying a fortune earlier.

And his three surviving wives - Lucina Laam, Ina Chan and Angela Leong - were at his bedside when he died early afternoon yesterday at the Hong Kong Sanatorium and Hospital.

Ho had fallen into a coma and lost consciousness as his condition worsened on Monday night, and doctors were by then administering cardiac shots and using a heart-lung machine.

But he died from organ dysfunction, geriatric disease and viral infections.

Ho had major health problems after suffering a fall at fourth wife Leong's home 11 years ago and sustaining a serious head injury.

Then aged 87, he was admitted to intensive care units at the Sanatorium in Happy Valley and the Adventist Hospital in Mid-Levels for brain surgery to remove a blood clot.

Eight doctors were on Ho's medical team, including leading neurologist Tse Sing-sang, microbiologist Yuen Kwok-yung from the University of Hong Kong, internal medicine specialist Annie Kung Wai-chee, cardiologist Tai Yau-ting, respiratory medicine expert Lai Kei-wai, kidney doctor Li Fu-keung and two others from Japan and the United States.

Ho's medical bill then was HK$1 million each day in the Sanatorium. So as he spent more than 100 days after the accident in hospital it was estimated that more than HK$100 million was laid out for treatment.

Even after being discharged from hospital there were charges of at least HK$1.15 million monthly for a 24-hour health-care team of at least seven experienced nurses and physiotherapists and another HK$20 million for medical equipment at his home. But Ho's condition deteriorated over the years. He also suffered a stroke in 2009, which left him half-paralyzed and confined to a wheelchair.

And since then he had been in and out of hospital at the Sanatorium, where a suite costs HK$23,000 a day, following various failures of major organs.

Sources said he was also diagnosed with Parkinson's disease and had to undergo dialysis after his kidneys failed, apparently resulting from medications to treat stroke.

The stroke also weakened his throat muscles, leading to Ho's inability to speak. Family members had to follow his lip movements to communicate with him.

Neither could Ho swallow food properly, which had led to repeated lung infections when food entered his airways. He was also dependent on tube feeding.

Ho made his last public appearance in 2009 at the 10th anniversary celebrations of Macau's handover, where he met then-president Hu Jintao.

Word among Macau delegates to the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference in January was that Ho was seriously ill.

jasmine.ling@singtaonewscorp.com