The Daegu Police Agency announced today (19th) that six medical staff members from three regional tertiary general hospitals have been sent to the prosecution without detention on charges of violating the Emergency Medical Care Act in relation to an incident where an emergency patient with a torn forehead did not receive timely and appropriate treatment in an emergency room and passed away.
According to the police and other sources, in April of last year, a person identified as A, who suffered a wound to the forehead, visited the emergency room of a local tertiary general hospital. However, based on the medical staff’s judgment that “plastic surgery treatment is needed,” the patient was transferred to another tertiary general hospital.
However, at the second general hospital, A was again sent to yet another tertiary general hospital in the region due to unavailability of same-day treatment.
At the last hospital A arrived at, they were also told that immediate plastic surgery treatment could not be provided. While preparing to transfer to another hospital in an ambulance, A’s blood pressure and pulse dropped, leading to a cardiac arrest.
Although A received CPR and other treatments, they eventually passed away.
Following a complaint from the bereaved family, the police investigation concluded that none of the three hospitals A visited provided proper emergency measures at the time of the incident. Consequently, in January, six medical staff, including doctors, were sent to the prosecution without detention on charges of violating the Emergency Medical Care Act.
However, it was determined that while A died after being turned away from emergency rooms, the medical staff were not charged with professional negligence resulting in death.
This decision was due to the unclear allocation of responsibility among the hospitals regarding A’s death and insufficient evidence to prove such charges.
A police official stated, “It is true that A did not receive proper emergency measures at the three hospitals before their death,” adding, “Although there may be differing opinions in the medical field, we conducted our investigation independently, gathered evidence, and sent the six medical staff to the prosecution after a review by the Investigative Deliberation Committee.”