Even if Collapsed, Examination First... Court Rules Hospital Must Compensate for Death Due to Delayed Surgery

[Asia Economy Reporter Seongpil Cho] The hospital has been ordered to pay compensation worth hundreds of millions of won to the bereaved families of a patient who died after the worsening of bowel obstruction symptoms due to delayed surgery by medical staff.

According to the legal community on the 26th, the Seoul Central District Court Civil Division 18 (Presiding Judge Wonshin Lee) ruled partially in favor of the plaintiffs in a damages lawsuit filed by two family members, including the husband and son, on behalf of the deceased patient against the Catholic Academy. The court ordered, "The Catholic Academy shall compensate the patient's husband 122.81 million won and the son 77.87 million won respectively, along with delayed interest."

Regarding the reason for liability, the court stated, "It cannot be denied that the patient's death was caused by the worsening of bowel obstruction symptoms due to repeated surgical delays by the medical staff." However, considering that even emergency surgery performed immediately upon discovery of the bowel obstruction the patient suffered had a relatively high rate of complications, the court limited the responsibility to 70%.

In May 2018, Mr. A, who visited a hospital operated by the Catholic Academy with abdominal pain symptoms, underwent surgery but suffered from complications such as septic shock and died within a week of admission. The family filed a lawsuit against the hospital, claiming compensation of approximately 288.7 million won, alleging negligence such as delayed surgery by the medical staff caused Mr. A's death.

During the trial, it was revealed that the hospital medical staff diagnosed Mr. A with bowel obstruction upon his initial visit but only performed surgical observation such as drainage through a nasogastric tube. Furthermore, on the third day of hospitalization, when the patient went to the bathroom and collapsed due to abdominal pain and shock, the medical staff conducted a CT scan instead of surgery, citing the need to identify the cause of the shock. Ultimately, Mr. A was only able to enter the operating room after the CT scan results were obtained. The court judged this response by the medical staff as "negligence in missing the timing for surgical treatment."