Sunderland Chinese takeaway boss George Ng died after suffering 'unpredictable' brain haemorrhage, inquest hears

George Ng was much-loved as the businessman behind the Fountain Garden.

George Ng, of the Fountain Garden in Queen’s Crescent, Barnes, collapsed while at a Unicorn Dance group show at the Hilton Hotel in Gateshead in September 25 last year.

Doctors at the event started CPR, with a 999 call upgraded to the most serious level when he stopped breathing.

A defibrillator from the Sage and one brought in by paramedics established he was not in a state a shockn.

George Ng with his friends and family in the kitchen of the Fountain Garden.

After a pulse was found and paramedics took over his breathing, the 60-year-old was taken to the Freeman Hospital in Newcastle, as he had a history of high blood pressure and had suffered a cardiac arrest – he had a further arrest while in intensive care.

Tests found no heart problems, with a CT scan revealing he had suffered a subarachnoid haemorrhage, a rare form of stroke.

He died in the early hours of the next day.

Patholgist Nigel Cooper said it had been an “entirely random event” and was “unpredictable.”

The coffin of popular takeaway boss George Ng passes his takeaway on on Queen's Crescent as part of his funeral last October. Picture by Tom Banks.

A post-mortem examination found George’s ribs had been broken, his left lung had collapsed, and he had suffered a laceration to his liver, all known consequences of CPR being carried out by trained professionals.

The inquest at Newcastle Civic Centre heard George had been prescibed antibiotics by Sunderland Royal on September 23 for an infection caused by shaving when part of his face went numb.

Malcolm Jones, consultant in emergency care at Sunderland, said the assessment of George’s symptoms had been correct and had he complained of a headache, guidelines which could have led to a CT scan would have been followed.

Dr Vikrant Pathania, consultant in anaesthesia and intensive care at the Freeman, said the CPR efforts had helped give time to get George to hospital.

Coroner Karen Dilks said the form of hemorrhage he had suffered had a “very high mortality” rate and concluded “he died of natural causes to which a rare but recognised complication of CPR contributed”.

The hearing was told the Hilton has since installed a defibrillator, although there are no regulations over such equipment.