"Son Who Went Swimming Suffers Finger Amputation... Outraged by Gym's Response"

Fell in Shower Room, Finger Severed After Getting Caught on Shelf
Delayed Treatment Due to Inadequate Initial Response Worsens Condition

A 10-year-old child fell in a swimming pool shower room without anti-slip pads, got their finger caught on a shelf, and suffered a finger amputation, but due to a reversal of fault, the family has not received proper compensation, a mother’s story revealed. Ms. A, who stated she lives in Gyeonggi-do, wrote on an online community on the 6th, "I am writing because I feel wronged about my 10-year-old child’s finger amputation accident." She reported that on March 26th in the afternoon, at a gym swimming pool shower room operated by a local public facility, her 10-year-old child’s right middle finger was amputated about halfway through the bone.

According to Ms. A’s account, the child slipped in the shower room in front of the showerhead and tried to grab something to prevent falling, but the finger got caught and cut between a shelf used for placing soap and the wall gap. Ms. A’s child has since undergone reattachment surgery and is currently hospitalized in a single room due to infection risk.

After the accident, the gym said they would take possible measures and spoke with the insurance company. The loss adjuster said that depending on the fault of the accident, there might be a deductible. Regarding this, Ms. A expressed dissatisfaction, stating that appropriate treatment was delayed due to the accident circumstances and insufficient initial response.

Previously, when safety management was not properly maintained in shower rooms or bathhouses and customers were injured, business owners were convicted of professional negligence causing injury. In January 2022, a customer in their 30s who fractured their arm after slipping on a drainage channel without an anti-slip mat at a public bathhouse in Ulsan sued the owner, who was fined 2 million won for professional negligence causing injury.