Newborn Baby Dies After Hospital Transfer Delays

[Anchor]

A tragic incident has occurred in Jeonju, North Jeolla Province, where a newborn baby has died. This region is known for its shortage of neonatologists, and concerns over medical service gaps have now become a reality.

Reporter Park Ha-jeong has the story.

[Reporter]

The baby was born at an OB-GYN clinic in Jeonju, North Jeolla Province, at 8:13 p.m. on July 4.

[Baby's Mother: They said the baby weighed 3.47 kg. The doctor should have prioritized giving the baby 2 liters of oxygen instead of weighing the baby. If the situation was that critical, they should have informed the guardians...]

[Hospital Official: The baby didn't cry for about 3 to 5 minutes. Usually, if you pat or tap them, they start crying and recover. So, the baby did recover.]

When the baby showed signs of cyanosis—a bluish discoloration of the skin due to low blood oxygen—and the heart rate dropped to 70 beats per minute after midnight, a nursing assistant called a doctor. The medical staff then began preparing to transfer the baby to a hospital with a neonatologist.

[Baby's Father: They told me I needed to come down quickly because they had to transfer the baby. They told me to bring my own car. They said the baby was just limp.]

The nearby hospitals with neonatologists were Chonbuk National University Hospital, Jesus Hospital, and Wonkwang University Hospital.

Among them, the only neonatologist responsible for the neonatal intensive care unit at Chonbuk National University Hospital had expressed an intention to resign due to an excessive workload and was on leave.

Citing this, the OB-GYN clinic did not contact Chonbuk National University Hospital. They stated that Jesus Hospital was full and could not accept new patients, so they headed to Wonkwang University Hospital, which was more than 30 minutes away by car.

The baby was already unable to breathe and passed away around 3:30 a.m. despite cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) efforts.

[Hospital Official: Because the judgment was delayed and the coordination was also delayed, it seems to have resulted in the worst possible outcome.]

The parents, who had been waiting for the day they would meet their child and had left messages for the baby on ultrasound photos, had to say goodbye as soon as they met.

[Baby's Father: Anyone could see it was the golden time, the warning lights were flashing. The baby was asking to be saved.]

The police have launched an investigation into whether there was any medical malpractice.

Reported by Joo Yong-jin | Video by Kim Jin-won | Produced by SBS Digital News
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.