COVID-19 Patient Dies After Falling From Hospital's First Floor

A COVID-19 patient in the Malaysian state of Sarawak has died after he fell from the first floor of a hospital building over the weekend, local police said.

The patient, identified as 35-year-old Lo Bun Song, fell from the first-floor ward of Sibu Hospital Saturday night, Malaysian newspaper The Star reported, citing Sibu's acting officer in charge of police district, superintendent Collin Babat.

Song, who was a seafood processing factory worker from Singkawang, Indonesia, later succumbed to "serious head injuries" that he sustained when he landed in a concrete drain, according to Babat.

Authorities did not disclose other details regarding Song's death, but police said that "there are no criminal elements involved" and that the case was classified as sudden death, DayakDaily reported.

Song was admitted to Sibu Hospital as a Category 3 patient Wednesday after testing positive for COVID-19, according to the outlet.

A similar incident happened in neighboring Singapore over a year ago when a 46-year-old Indian national died from a fall at a hospital building. Alagu Periyakaruppan was found lying motionless on the third-floor staircase landing of Khoo Teck Puat Hospital (KTPH) on April 23 last year.

The Indian national, who was admitted five days before the incident following a COVID-19 diagnosis, slipped out of a window panel beside his bed on the seventh floor and landed on the hospital's third-floor staircase landing.

Periyakaruppan was found to have died from injuries he sustained in the four-story fall, which an autopsy revealed included a ruptured heart, bleeding into chest cavities, fractured ribs and bleeding over the surface of the brain.

Police did not suspect any foul play in Periyakaruppan's death, and state coroner Kamala Ponnampalam ruled his death a deliberate act of suicide.

The coroner acknowledged that the suicide risk assessment was "extremely difficult" as Periyakaruppan "did not demonstrate behavior that suggested suicidal intent."

Periyakaruppan, however, was found to have recorded two messages about ending his life hours before the fall.

In one of the recordings, Periyakaruppan said that he did not wish to stay alive. Additionally, he said he was ready to lose his life and nobody had to do anything about it, according to a transcript of the video.

A KTPH-led investigation found that there was no lapse in Periyakaruppan's clinical care and that his death was neither predictable nor preventable.

If you have thoughts of suicide, confidential help is available for free at the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline. Call 1-800-273-8255. The line is available 24 hours, every day.