"Four-Year-Old Son Who Was Coughing Up Blood Finally Ends Up in the Emergency Room"... A Mother's Desperate Cry

Medical Accident Victims' 'Hwanja Shouting Cafe' Event
Mother of Kim Donghee, Who Passed Away 4 Years Ago, Speaks Out
"After Losing Family, Suffering from Lawsuits Instead of Comfort"

Amid a series of recent deaths caused by "emergency room cycling" incidents in medical settings, families of medical accident victims have expressed the need for institutional improvements to prevent such accidents. The Korea Patient Organization Federation held a "Patient Shouting Cafe" event on the 10th in Jongno-gu, Seoul. The Patient Shouting Cafe is an event where patients and their families who have experienced medical accidents share their grievances and discuss solutions to medical accidents with experts.

On the morning of the 10th, at the Patient Shouting Cafe event held at Forest Gugu in Jongno-gu, Seoul, Kim So-hee, the mother of the late Kim Dong-hee who died due to a medical accident, showed tears while speaking.
[Image source=Yonhap News]

At the 24th Patient Shouting Cafe, Kim So-hee, the mother of the late Kim Dong-hee (then 4 years old), spoke about the medical accident her son experienced and the hospital's unjust response. In October 2019, Kim underwent a tonsillectomy at a university hospital in Yangsan, Gyeongnam, but showed signs of bleeding during recovery. The surgeon, Dr. A, re-anesthetized Kim and extensively cauterized the wound. This increased the risk of additional complications, but Dr. A did not document these facts in the medical records. Later, Kim experienced severe pain and dehydration but was discharged as is, and his parents were not informed of his exact condition or emergency response measures.

Kim's mother said, "The surgeon told me, 'There was slight bleeding, but hemostasis was achieved, so the surgery went well; you don't need to worry.' As a guardian without medical knowledge, I had no choice but to fully trust this."

After discharge, Kim's condition worsened, and he was admitted to another hospital in Busan. At that time, Kim showed symptoms of coughing up blood, but Dr. B, the on-duty physician, delegated the case to Dr. C, a junior from the same university hospital, and left the hospital without permission. Despite contact from the on-duty nurse, Dr. B did not check Kim's condition and decided to transfer him to another hospital. Even Dr. C, who was acting as a substitute on-duty physician, took no emergency measures until the 119 emergency medical team arrived.

Kim was transferred to another university hospital by the 119 emergency medical team but was refused admission due to "another CPR (cardiopulmonary resuscitation) patient," resulting in emergency room cycling. Ultimately, Kim missed the golden hour while searching for another hospital and was transferred to a university hospital 20 km away, where he passed away on March 11, 2020, without regaining consciousness. However, it was later revealed that the CPR patient at the hospital that refused admission had already been discharged from the emergency room two hours earlier and moved to a separate intensive care unit.

On the morning of the 10th, at the Patient Shouting Cafe event held at Forest Gugu in Jongno-gu, Seoul, Kim So-hee, the mother of the late Kim Dong-hee who died due to a medical accident, is speaking with a photo of her child beside her.
[Photo by Yonhap News]

The Seoul Western District Prosecutors' Office indicted five people last May, including the surgeon who performed Kim's tonsillectomy and emergency medicine specialists, on charges of professional negligence causing death and violations of medical law. Follow-up investigations by the prosecution also revealed that a resident doctor in charge of Kim accessed the medical records using another on-duty doctor's ID and falsified the treatment records.

Kim said, "If there had been even a single genuine apology or word of consolation from the hospital, we might not have come this far (to litigation)." The Korea Patient Organization Federation pointed out, "Comprehensive discussions are needed to ensure sufficient explanation and consolation to patients when medical accidents occur," adding, "Victims and their families suffer severe injuries or lose loved ones but do not receive apologies or consolation from perpetrators and face difficulties proving medical accidents over years of litigation and high legal costs."

An Ki-jong, president of the Korea Patient Organization Federation, said, "The problem of emergency room 'cycling' is worsening due to medical strikes," and added, "The Dong-hee Act must be implemented as soon as possible to prevent accidents like the refusal of emergency transfers experienced by the late Kim Dong-hee." Following Kim's death, in 2021, an amendment to the Emergency Medical Service Act, which stipulates the obligation of emergency medical institutions to accept emergency patients and the notification standards when acceptance is impossible, was passed by the National Assembly.