Healthy woman died due to ‘unproven and wholly unnecessary’ cancer treatment from private clinic, court hears
HK$59,500 blood infusion procedure left one patient dead and another with limbs amputated, according to prosecutors at manslaughter trial
Two Hong Kong beauty salon doctors and a technician involved in the death of a woman in 2012 used an “unproven and wholly unnecessary” cancer therapy learned in mainland China on healthy customers that hospitals in the city would not even deploy for the sick, prosecutors alleged at their trial on Tuesday.
The expensive treatment offered by DR Group – which involves blood being taken, processed and reintroduced into a patient’s body – resulted in the death of Chan Yuen-lam, 46, after her blood sample became infected by bacteria, the prosecutors told a jury at the High Court.
The procedure had been learned from a mainland Chinese hospital just months before it was administered to the women, the court heard.
Another patient, Wong Ching-bor, was forced to have two legs and four fingers amputated following the treatment, while a third customer, Wong Fung-kwan, recovered but was permanently injured. All three received the treatment on the same day, prosecutor Raymond Leung Wai-man SC said.
Dr Stephen Chow Heung-wing, head of DR Group, Dr Mak Wan-ling, and Chan Kwun-chung each deny one count of manslaughter due to gross negligence.