"Baby Left Alone?"... The Truth of the Postpartum Care Center Captured on CCTV

Two Babies Left on Diaper Changing Table Lead to Accident
"All Parties Declared Not Responsible... System Improvement Needed"

It has been confirmed that a supplementary investigation decision has been made against three individuals, including a nurse who dropped and seriously injured an 8-day-old newborn and the director of the facility at a postpartum care center in Pyeongtaek, Gyeonggi Province. The baby's mother released CCTV footage of the incident and appealed for punishment against them.

It was reported that Baby B fell from a height below 90cm at the postpartum care center and requires 8 weeks of treatment. [Image source: Captured from Naver Cafe]

The baby's mother, Ms. A, posted a message titled "Petition Regarding the Newborn Fall Accident at the Postpartum Care Center" on the National Petition Board on the 25th. Ms. A said, "After 1 year and 7 months, a notification of the investigation result arrived by mail, but the representative director and others were not prosecuted (no charges). If they had not lied on the day of the accident, there would have been no delay, but my whole body is trembling," she said.

The fall accident involving Ms. A's son, Mr. B, occurred around 12:25 PM on July 18, 2022, at a postpartum care center in Pyeongtaek. The police handed over nurse Ms. C to the prosecution on charges of dropping Mr. B, who was on a diaper changing table inside the center, onto the floor 90 cm below. On the day of the accident, the center reportedly told Ms. A around 1 PM, "The baby was wriggling alone and fell from the 80 cm diaper changing table, but we caught him, and he lightly hit the floor," and advised, "It would be good to go to the hospital for an X-ray."

At that time, Ms. A thought it was not a serious accident and first visited a nearby general hospital before going to a university hospital. After several hours of examination, it was confirmed that Mr. B had fractures in both sides of his skull and three brain hemorrhages. A few days later, Ms. A was able to review the CCTV footage of the accident. She said, "Watching the CCTV footage, I realized that the postpartum care center only informed me of the accident in a minimized way 30 minutes after it happened," and lamented, "If I had known properly a little earlier, I could have gone straight to the university hospital and received treatment sooner."

B fell from a height below 90cm at the postpartum care center and was diagnosed with injuries requiring 8 weeks of treatment. The video is CCTV footage from the time of the accident. [Image source: Captured from Naver Cafe]

In the video released by Ms. A, nurse Ms. C placed two babies, Mr. B and another infant, together on one diaper changing table and was changing diapers. During the process of changing the other baby's diaper and moving, the edge of the swaddle wrapping Mr. B rolled toward Ms. C. Because of this, Mr. B was dragged along with the swaddle to the edge of the changing table.

The postpartum care center, through legal representatives, reportedly informed Ms. A in writing that it was difficult to accurately determine the circumstances of the accident based solely on the CCTV footage. Regarding the center director and representative director, who were also handed over to the prosecution on charges of professional negligence causing injury along with Ms. C, the center stated that they could not be held responsible as they could not manage or supervise the nurses' newborn care.

Ms. A expressed her grievance, saying, "The center director is an administrative director and cannot manage or supervise newborn care, so they are not responsible, and the representative director cannot manage or supervise the nurses' specific newborn care, so they are not responsible." She added, "I hope appropriate measures will be taken at the postpartum care center, guidelines will be established to ensure that only one newborn is changed at a time during diaper changes, guards will be installed on the diaper changing tables in the newborn room, and mats will be mandated on the floor so that future babies can be safely entrusted even for a short time, and mothers who have given birth can rest with peace of mind," emphasizing, "I hope such accidents never happen again."