A surgical team at a hospital in Hanoi has been suspended after a patient died following an operation to treat his broken arm.

Vuong Dinh Cuong, 37, was admitted to the general hospital of Ha Dong District on Wednesday morning with a fractured arm he sustained from a traffic accident the night before.

Doctors diagnosed him with broken forearm and took him in for surgery at 9:30 am on Wednesday in stable health and full consciousness.

Four hours later, at 1:30 pm, the lead surgeon exited the operation room and announced that the surgery had gone well, but refused to let Cuong’s family members inside, citing risks of infection.

However, at 2:00 pm a doctor told the family that Cuong had to receive blood infusion without providing any further details.

After waiting for another hour without hearing any news, Cuong’s family members entered the operation room, only to find the man being left alone inside, his face blackened and his stomach bloated.

“I had to call for doctors three times until someone finally arrived to check on him,” said Binh, the patient’s grandmother.

Efforts to resuscitate Cuong were unsuccessful, and doctors pronounced him dead at 5:30 pm the same day.

Doctors at Ha Dong General Hospital in Hanoi hold a press conference addressing the death of a patient after surgery on May 10, 2018. Photo: Tuoi Tre

Dao Thien Tien, director of Ha Dong General Hospital, said at a press conference on Thursday that the surgical team responsible for Cung’s operation had been suspended from work while an investigation is launched into the patient’s unusual death.

“If any violation is found on the doctors’ part, we will take disciplinary actions against him,” Tien said.

However, the hospital director refuted claims by the deceased man’s family members that they had found him unaccompanied inside the operation room while he was still alive.

“The man might have already lost his life, despite efforts by doctors to save him, by the time the family members stormed into the operation room,” he said.

While official autopsy results are required to determine the cause and manner of death, Tien said it was likely the patient had suffered from clogged blood vessels, as fat from the fractured bone entered his bloodstream and blocked an artery.

“When his bone was fractured in the accident, bone fragments could cut through the fat layer, sending pieces of fat into the cardiovascular system causing the blockage in his veins,” he explained.

Police in Ha Dong District have also joined the investigation and are expected to make announcements on the unusual death soon.

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