Singapore
By Lydia Lam 25 May 2021 10:23AM (Updated: 25 May 2021 10:30AM )
SINGAPORE: An 82-year-old woman who died after being hit by a taxi on an expressway had mild dementia and was likely to have forgotten where she was going, a coroner said in findings released this week.
Madam Janet Yong Fui Meng suddenly stepped onto the third lane of the East Coast Parkway (ECP) at around 9am on Nov 19 last year.
A taxi driver who was on the expressway heading towards the Marina Coastal Expressway was unable to stop in time and collided into Mdm Yong.
He said he had not noticed any pedestrians and did not expect one to appear along the expressway.
The driver said he heard a thud on the front left portion of his taxi and found that his left side mirror was missing. Thinking he had hit some branches, the cabby stopped at the road shoulder and saw Mdm Yong lying face down on the floor, unconscious and bleeding from the head.
He waited for the police to arrive.
Mdm Yong was taken unconscious to Changi General Hospital with critical injuries. She did not respond to continuous cardiopulmonary resuscitation and was pronounced dead at about 10pm that day.
An autopsy certified her cause of death as multiple injuries sustained in a road traffic accident. Some drugs including citalopram, which is used for major depression, was found in her blood samples.
Mdm Yong's daughter said her mother had just moved in to live with her at her Tampines flat on Nov 14, 2020 after Mdm Yong sold off her flat in Clementi, where she had lived for about 40 years.
Mdm Yong had a few chronic conditions such as hypertension and high cholesterol, and her daughter learned from her doctors in July 2020 that Mdm Yong had mild dementia and was prescribed an anti-depressant.
On the afternoon of Nov 19, 2020, Mdm Yong had gone shopping for Christmas presents at Tampines Central with her daughter. Before 6pm, her daughter saw Mdm Yong walking towards the main door with her bag in hand.
She asked her mother where she was going, but Mdm Yong did not reply. Her daughter assumed she was going out for a walk or to buy dinner.
Mdm Yong was quite independent, said her daughter, and would go out on her own, using her own EZ-Link card to take public transport. However, she did not carry a handphone as she did not know how to use one.
Mdm Yong's daughter said her mother had not displayed any suicidal ideation. She is not sure how her mother ended up at the accident location.
"It is entirely possible that while she was out, due to her dementia, Mdm Yong had forgotten her way and then become confused, leading her to step onto the expressway and into the path of the oncoming vehicle," said State Coroner Kamala Ponnampalam.
Mdm Yong's death "highlights the many challenges faced by individuals afflicted with dementia", said the coroner.
"Simple, daily, routines become fraught with danger. Those suffering from the milder forms are ironically at greater danger, as family members are lulled into thinking that the individual is still capable of managing on her own," she said.
"Mdm Yong’s unfortunate demise is a poignant reminder that the
family must remain alert to possible harm and injury occuring even in cases of mild dementia."
She ruled Mdm Yong's death a truly unfortunate traffic misadventure and conveyed her condolences to her family for their sad loss.
Source: CNA/ll(hs)
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Woman who died aged 82 after being hit by taxi on expressway had mild dementia: Coroner
(File photo: AP)By Lydia Lam 25 May 2021 10:23AM (Updated: 25 May 2021 10:30AM )
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SINGAPORE: An 82-year-old woman who died after being hit by a taxi on an expressway had mild dementia and was likely to have forgotten where she was going, a coroner said in findings released this week.
Madam Janet Yong Fui Meng suddenly stepped onto the third lane of the East Coast Parkway (ECP) at around 9am on Nov 19 last year.
A taxi driver who was on the expressway heading towards the Marina Coastal Expressway was unable to stop in time and collided into Mdm Yong.
He said he had not noticed any pedestrians and did not expect one to appear along the expressway.
The driver said he heard a thud on the front left portion of his taxi and found that his left side mirror was missing. Thinking he had hit some branches, the cabby stopped at the road shoulder and saw Mdm Yong lying face down on the floor, unconscious and bleeding from the head.
He waited for the police to arrive.
Mdm Yong was taken unconscious to Changi General Hospital with critical injuries. She did not respond to continuous cardiopulmonary resuscitation and was pronounced dead at about 10pm that day.
An autopsy certified her cause of death as multiple injuries sustained in a road traffic accident. Some drugs including citalopram, which is used for major depression, was found in her blood samples.
Mdm Yong's daughter said her mother had just moved in to live with her at her Tampines flat on Nov 14, 2020 after Mdm Yong sold off her flat in Clementi, where she had lived for about 40 years.
Mdm Yong had a few chronic conditions such as hypertension and high cholesterol, and her daughter learned from her doctors in July 2020 that Mdm Yong had mild dementia and was prescribed an anti-depressant.
On the afternoon of Nov 19, 2020, Mdm Yong had gone shopping for Christmas presents at Tampines Central with her daughter. Before 6pm, her daughter saw Mdm Yong walking towards the main door with her bag in hand.
She asked her mother where she was going, but Mdm Yong did not reply. Her daughter assumed she was going out for a walk or to buy dinner.
Mdm Yong was quite independent, said her daughter, and would go out on her own, using her own EZ-Link card to take public transport. However, she did not carry a handphone as she did not know how to use one.
Mdm Yong's daughter said her mother had not displayed any suicidal ideation. She is not sure how her mother ended up at the accident location.
"It is entirely possible that while she was out, due to her dementia, Mdm Yong had forgotten her way and then become confused, leading her to step onto the expressway and into the path of the oncoming vehicle," said State Coroner Kamala Ponnampalam.
Mdm Yong's death "highlights the many challenges faced by individuals afflicted with dementia", said the coroner.
"Simple, daily, routines become fraught with danger. Those suffering from the milder forms are ironically at greater danger, as family members are lulled into thinking that the individual is still capable of managing on her own," she said.
"Mdm Yong’s unfortunate demise is a poignant reminder that the
family must remain alert to possible harm and injury occuring even in cases of mild dementia."
She ruled Mdm Yong's death a truly unfortunate traffic misadventure and conveyed her condolences to her family for their sad loss.
Source: CNA/ll(hs)
Continue reading...