The family of a 19-year-old Hong Kong woman has filed a complaint with Princess Margaret Hospital (PMH) after she suffered a stroke following a botched catheter placement.
The patient, who was not named, was admitted to PMH’s renal ward on April 11 with pneumonia, a hospital spokesperson said yesterday in a press release. Despite receiving treatment in the form of antibiotics and oxygen therapy, she suffered from a persistent fever and tachycardia (abnormally rapid heart rate) and was transferred to the intensive care unit on April 21 with low oxygen levels in her blood.
An echocardiogram also revealed that she had poor cardiac function due to dilated cardiomyopathy, a condition where the heart becomes enlarged and can’t pump blood efficiently.
On April 26, a doctor inserted a catheter to facilitate continuous kidney dialysis via the patient’s neck and guided by ultrasound, but stopped the procedure after realizing the catheter had hit her artery and not her vein, as intended. To avoid a blood clot, the doctor administered heparin, a blood thinner.
The 19-year-old was transferred to Queen Elizabeth Hospital the next day to have her artery repaired.
While the operation was successful, the patient began developing weakness on the right side of her body earlier this month and experienced difficulty speaking. According to a PMH spokesperson, she had developed a blood clot in her left cerebral artery and suffered a stroke, a known complication of the high-risk catheter insertion.
The patient’s family has lodged a complaint with PMH and an internal review of the procedure has been carried out. Currently, the 19-year-old is in the intensive care unit of QEH in critical condition.
