Daughter Sobbing and Trembling After Work: Bereaved Family Reveals Verbal Abuse

"I can 'burn' a new nurse until they are nothing once they join." This is the verbal abuse that the bereaved family says the late Kang (27), a nurse who passed away at her home on June 2, heard from a senior nurse while working at a hospital in Gwangju, Gyeonggi Province.

Kang's mother, Kim, burst into tears during a phone call with a news outlet on July 7 while describing the "taeum" (workplace bullying) her daughter had endured.

"Taeum" is a slang term in the nursing industry that refers to a culture where seniors harass and bully new nurses under the guise of training. It is known to be derived from the expression "burning someone until they become ash."

"My daughter said that while she was entering data, a senior who was playing a game on her phone behind her mentioned the '○○' caused by taeum as if she wanted my daughter to hear it," Kim said. "My daughter came home from work that day trembling and sobbing, saying, 'I don't even know how I finished my shift.'"

Kang did not have difficulties with hospital life from the beginning.

According to her mother, Kim, Kang was assigned to the emergency room after joining the hospital in February 2023. The family explained that she was quick to learn her duties and adapted well to the field, receiving praise from her seniors.

Kang, who dreamed of becoming a nurse after attending a lecture by a professional nurse as part of her career exploration in her third year of high school, went on to nursing college and succeeded in finding a job immediately after graduation.

"My daughter was such a hardworking student that her professors wrote letters of recommendation for her to get into the hospital, and even after she started working, she did so well that she received praise from seniors, such as 'We got an ace' and 'Just keep doing what you're doing,'" Kim said. "It was a time when she worked happily even while being incredibly busy."

However, the bereaved family claimed that Kang began to experience taeum about two months after joining the hospital.

Kim explained that the incident began when an on-duty doctor offered to buy drinks for the nurses and asked Kang, the youngest, to take the orders.

A senior took issue with the fact that Kang was sitting on a backless, round stool—a common sight in hospitals—while taking the orders from her seniors at the time.

"One of the people who usually led the taeum said, 'Does it make sense for someone with her experience to be sitting there?' and gave her a hard time. That was the first instance of bullying," Kim said.

Kim claimed that the taeum directed at Kang intensified thereafter.

"My daughter said that after the drink order incident, she was often ignored even when she greeted her seniors," Kim said. "She confided that she was frequently criticized for different ways of handling tasks, and when she asked questions because she wanted to do better, she was either scolded or received no answer at all."

The family explained that starting in May of that same year, Kang appealed to the head nurse, the leader of the nurses, several times about the abuse, but nothing changed significantly other than a work schedule adjustment for about two months.

"My daughter was depressed, saying, 'I can't even do things I'm usually good at when I'm in front of that senior (the person identified as the perpetrator of the taeum),'" Kim said. "Then she was deeply shocked after hearing the remark, 'I can burn a new nurse until they are nothing.'"

Kim said she suggested that her daughter quit, but Kang shed tears and said, "Mom, I didn't do anything wrong. I really love this job. I want to continue being a nurse. And I don't want to run away."

The family said that Kang, who continued her hospital life despite the pain, finally submitted her resignation in March of last year after being severely reprimanded by a senior for making a mistake in medication dosage while treating a patient.

After quitting the hospital, Kang filed a complaint regarding workplace bullying with labor authorities.

Kim said that afterward, Kang complained of severe psychological distress, and even while being cared for by her family, she made attempts to "○○."

Eventually, Kang received psychiatric treatment and was even admitted to a closed ward, the family said.

"She was a child who had never received psychiatric treatment before becoming a nurse," Kim said, unable to continue her sentence.

In September of that year, labor authorities determined that workplace bullying was recognized for one of the three people identified as perpetrators of taeum against Kang and ordered the hospital to take corrective action.

However, the labor authorities only determined whether bullying had occurred and left the specific level of corrective action to the hospital.

In March, the Occupational Disease Judgment Committee also recognized Kang's condition as an occupational disease (severe depressive episode).

However, Kang passed away on June 2 without recovering from the trauma.

"Please help so that my daughter's death is not in vain and that taeum incidents never happen again," said Kim, who wept throughout the interview. "She lived only on her bed, feeling resentful and saying, 'My life is ruined, yet the perpetrators are living happily,' before she met her death."

Meanwhile, the Gyeonggi Nambu Provincial Police Agency has formed a 20-member investigation team at the Metropolitan Special Investigation Unit to handle Kang's case.

The police are speeding up the investigation by analyzing the one year's worth of diaries left behind by the deceased and calling in the bereaved family and friends as witnesses for questioning.

(Photo: Yonhap News)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.