Caring for Unconscious Chinese Patient for Years... Hospital Left with Over 800 Million Won in Unpaid Bills

[Anchor] A domestic hospital treated an unconscious foreign patient for over six years, yet has not received a single penny of the hospital bills amounting to more than 800 million won? Let us check the details.

[Reporter] The patient, of Chinese nationality, entered South Korea on a tourist visa in 2019 and collapsed after working for nine days.

After passing through multiple medical institutions, the patient was transferred to a hospital in a coma three months later.

Under the Emergency Medical Service Act, the hospital could not refuse or discontinue treatment, so it continued to provide care for over six years. Unpaid hospital bills accumulated over this period reportedly reach 840 million won.

The family in China submitted a waiver of treatment, stating they could not afford the hospital bills due to financial reasons.

The hospital sought help from the Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission last year, and the commission discussed solutions with related agencies such as the Ministry of Health and Welfare and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, but yielded no results due to the absence of relevant regulations.

Ultimately, the patient passed away in April, leaving the hospital with virtually no way to recover the medical expenses.

To prevent such cases from recurring, the Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission has recommended that related agencies establish a system to support the repatriation of unclaimed foreign patients to their home countries and address unpaid medical expenses.
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.