A ParkwayHealth spokesman said that Madam Wong Heng had a very 'turbulent' stay due to the complexity of her conditions.

She did not elaborate on this, citing patient confidentiality issues.

'Although the option of transfer to restructured hospitals was considered on several occasions there was limited opportunity to do so due to a combination of factors including stability of the patient's conditions, patient family's wishes and the availability of resources on the receiving hospital's end,' she said.

In general, transfer of cases between hospitals would depend on a patient's condition, availability of beds and the availability of a doctor who can take over the case.

Said the spokesman: 'The doctors actively sought to engage the family members on several occasions to discuss management plans but encountered great difficulties in getting all the family members together.

'As a result, the hospital was asked to liaise with the family's representative, Mr C T Yang, and most of the communication between the hospital/doctors took place through Mr Yang.'

Throughout Madam Wong's hospital stay, the family was appraised of the interim bill sizes on a weekly basis.

'Our document trail had indicated that consistent reminders and follow-ups were done for the family members,' said the spokesman.

Additionally, Madam Wong had spent 186 days in the ICU.

In order to help the family cope, the hospital charged 118 of those days under high dependency unit (HDU) charges which are slightly cheaper than ICU.

This story was first published in The New Paper on Sept 1, 2008.