Newborn Dies After Hospital Transfer Delays: Parents Left Grieving

On the evening of July 4, at 8:13 p.m., a baby was born at an obstetrics and gynecology clinic in Jeonju, North Jeolla Province.

[Baby's Mother: They said the baby weighed 3.47 kg. The doctor told them not to weigh the baby but to immediately provide 2 liters of oxygen. If the situation was that critical, they should have informed the guardians...]

[Hospital Official: The baby did not cry for about 3 to 5 minutes. Usually, if you pat or stimulate them, they cry and recover. So, the baby did recover.]

As the baby developed cyanosis—a condition where the body turns bluish due to a lack of oxygen in the blood—and the heart rate dropped to 70 after midnight, a nursing assistant called the doctor. The medical staff then began preparing to transfer the newborn to a hospital with a neonatal specialist.

[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 three nearby hospitals with neonatal specialists were Chonbuk National University Hospital, Jesus Hospital, and Wonkwang University Hospital.

At Chonbuk National University Hospital, the only professor specializing in neonatology, who had been in charge of the neonatal intensive care unit, had expressed an intention to resign due to an excessive workload and was on leave.

Citing this, the obstetrics clinic did not contact Chonbuk National University Hospital. They stated that Jesus Hospital was at full capacity and could not accept new patients, so they headed to Wonkwang University Hospital, located more than 30 minutes away by car, with the baby.

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 transfer arrangements were 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 baby and had left messages for the child 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 signaling, 'Please save me.']

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

[Exclusive] "It Was a Signal to Save Me"... What Happened in the Newborn's Death (July 7, 2026, 8 News)

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