27-Month-Old Girl Dies After Cardiac Arrest Under General Anesthesia at Eye Clinic

A 27-month-old girl who fell into cardiac arrest while receiving anesthesia prior to surgery at an eye clinic in Ulsan has ultimately passed away.

According to the Ulsan Jungbu Police Station and other sources, the victim, identified as A, who had been receiving hospital treatment following the accident earlier this month, died on the afternoon of October 13.

This comes 11 days after the accident.

On October 2, the toddler suffered a cardiac arrest while undergoing general anesthesia at an eye clinic in Jung-gu, Ulsan, to treat entropion, a condition where eyelashes turn inward and irritate the cornea.

Although her heartbeat was restored during emergency treatment at a nearby hospital, she did not regain consciousness and was transferred to a university hospital in another region for treatment.

At the time, the eye clinic where the accident occurred stated that oxygen was not properly supplied during the administration of anesthesia, and added that the responsible anesthesiologist had also admitted to the mistake.

Following the death of child A, police changed the charges against three individuals—the hospital director, the anesthesiologist, and the surgeon—from professional negligence resulting in injury to professional negligence resulting in death.

Police conducted an autopsy yesterday to determine the exact cause of death, while speeding up the investigation by recently executing a search and seizure warrant on the hospital to secure surgery-related evidence.

Some nursing staff members on duty at the time of the accident have been summoned for questioning, and police are currently coordinating a schedule for the anesthesiologist to appear.

A suspected cause of the accident is a connection error in the ventilator circuit that assists breathing during anesthesia.

It was reported that the freelance anesthesiologist in charge of child A's anesthesia at the time explained to the bereaved family that, upon inspecting the equipment days after the accident, the two circuits for incoming and outgoing airflow appeared to have been connected in reverse.

Based on statements from related parties, the autopsy results, and evaluations from specialized institutions, police plan to verify the connection status of the circuits at the time of the accident and whether there was medical malpractice.

They are also investigating the circumstances of why the closed-circuit television (CCTV) in the operating room was not recording at the time of the accident.

Authorities plan to determine whether there were violations of the Medical Service Act after receiving advisory opinions on when the legal obligation to record applies.

Recently posting the news of her daughter's passing on social media, the mother of child A urged for a thorough investigation, stating that she wants to know if this was a preventable accident, and if it could have been prevented, why it was not.

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