Three nurses found guilty in deadly 2011 medical blunder

Three nurses have been found guilty of professional misconduct in a 2011 medical blunder that killed an elderly patient.

The findings were announced Monday by the Nursing Council of Hong Kong (NCHK) which cleared nine other nurses.

A mitigation hearing is set for June in which disciplinary punishments are expected, according to news website hk01.com.

NCHK called a board of inquiry to look into the death of Wang Keng-kao after his airway was blocked by a cotton gauze left by the nurses in question in Kowloon Hospital.

Wang, 73, had undergone tracheostomy in 2011 for throat cancer, leaving him with an artificial air passage through his neck.

When he was re-admitted to the hospital as part of his recovery, he had gauze taped over the sides of his airway, Apple Daily reports, citing documents from the inquiry.

Wang died a week later.

Wang's son, Wong Ping-wan, who pursued the investigation, said he was relieved by the verdict, adding he planned to visit his father's grave to give him the news.

He said he had almost given up after his mother and some friends urged him to stop and blamed a partial facial paralysis on tension from the five-year ordeal.

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