Hong Kong – A quadriplegic Hong Kong man who triggered a euthanasia debate by making a public appeal to be allowed to die went home Thursday after 19 years in hospital.
Tang Siu-pun, 41, left Hong Kong’s Queen Mary Hospital, where he has lived since his accident, to begin a new life in a specially adapted flat.
He became an overnight celebrity in 2004 after writing to the chief executive and legislators from his hospital bed asking for the right to end his life.
Paralysed from the neck down in a gymnastics accident in 1991, Tang said at the time that he was a burden to his family, had no quality of life and wanted to be allowed to die with dignity.
His case met with widespread public sympathy and set off a heated debate about whether the law rendering assisted suicide illegal should be changed to allow people to end their lives.
Tang changed his mind about ending his life but remained an advocate of people’s right to choose euthanasia.
Today, despite his continued paralysis, Tang’s condition has improved, and he is no longer reliant on a mechanical ventilator to breathe. Caregivers will help him in his new home.
Leaving hospital in a wheelchair flanked by health officials, Tang said he was excited about his move but concerned whether he would cope.
“In hospital, I didn’t have to worry about anything,” he said.
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