New Taipei City prosecutors have launched an investigation into an 80-year-old woman after she lit an incense stick in a hospital room and sparked a flashover, which allegedly resulted in the death of a patient.
The woman, surnamed Hsiung (熊), could face charges of negligent homicide and endangering public safety, prosecutors said.
Hsiung and her daughter were visiting Hsiung’s 89-year-old husband, surnamed Tsai (蔡), at Cardinal Tien Hospital in Xindian District (新店), police said.
Tsai was in the final stages of heart failure, they added.
Hsiung lit an incense stick in the hospital room and accidentally touched it to Tsai’s breathing mask, and the oxygen that had been leaking from the device caused a flashover, police and firefighters said.
The visiting family members had pulled the drapes around the bed, forming a semi-closed space that provided an oxygen-rich environment, firefighters said.
Hospital staff put out the fire and treated the family members for burns.
However, Tsai did not survive the incident, police said.
Prosecutors said that as Tsai had been alive at the time of the incident, Hsiung should be investigated for possible negligent homicide and endangering public safety.
Following the incident, Ooi Hean (黃軒), a doctor at the hospital’s department of thoracic medicine, said that visitors may not smoke, light mosquito-repellant incense or burn joss paper in the hospital, especially near patients receiving hyperbaric therapy or oxygen.
Equipment providing oxygen is flammable and should be kept at least 3m from sources of fire, such as candles, Ooi said.
Such equipment should also be kept at least 1.5m from radios, TVs and electric heaters, Ooi said.
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