Hong Kong truck driver died untreated in hospital of natural causes, Coroner’s Court rules
- Jury delivers verdict after evidence suggests Wong Yun-chuen’s death in 2021 did not involve accident, slip-up in medical procedure
A cross-border truck driver died of natural causes after he spent more than six hours in a Hong Kong public hospital without receiving treatment, the Coroner’s Court has ruled.
A five-member jury delivered the unanimous verdict on Friday after Coroner Arthur Lam Hei-wei found no evidence to suggest Wong Yun-chuen’s death at Tuen Mun Hospital in 2021 involved an accident or a slip-up in medical procedure.
Lam said he believed the five-day inquiry represented “a big step towards the truth”, but Wong’s elder sister expressed disappointment that little mention was made in court about what she saw as a breach of a duty of care for the deceased.
Wong died at the age of 55 after he was transferred from a medical institution in mainland China on August 18 that year for suspected lymphoma.
He was admitted to the hospital’s isolation ward at 1.16pm for Covid-19 testing and a preliminary check, but the results were still pending when his elder sister found him cold and lifeless at 7.50pm the same day.
Wong was declared dead at 8.18pm after a failed resuscitation attempt.