"Patient Death Is Painful Enough, But Even Seized by Police": Doctors Express Anguish

[Anchor]

Conflict between the medical community and police shows no sign of subsiding following the police raid on Ajou University Hospital's Pediatric Emergency Center. The medical community has urged authorities to fundamentally restrict raids on essential medical facilities and establish guidelines for investigations.

Reporter Jeong Gyeong-yun has the story.

[Reporter]

A day after senior National Police Agency officials visited Ajou University Hospital to express regret over the emergency room raid, the medical community held an emergency press conference.

While stating they would always cooperate with police investigations, they argued that raids on essential medical sites should be restricted in principle, and that prior consultation and expert opinions should be reflected if such actions are unavoidable.

Some choked up while appealing for an end to the practice of treating medical treatment spaces as crime scenes.

[Ryu Jeong-min / President, Korean Society of Pediatric Emergency Medicine: The death of a patient is... the greatest scar and pain of all. Treating medical staff as potential suspects from the start, barging into treatment areas, and executing warrants is....]

Lee Ji-sook, head of the Pediatric Emergency Center at Ajou University Hospital, stated that she submitted her resignation after failing to receive a satisfactory explanation from the police regarding the warrant execution.

[Lee Ji-sook / Head of Ajou University Hospital Pediatric Emergency Center (Yesterday): I submitted my resignation to the hospital president yesterday, and I ask that you understand that it followed a great deal of agony and distress on my part.]

The medical community emphasized that the police's intrusive on-site investigation left deep fear among both medical staff and patients, demanding that investigation guidelines be introduced by the end of November.

They warned that if the recruitment schedule for resident and fellow doctors next year is disrupted or specialists begin to leave, it will be difficult to maintain the pediatric emergency medical system.

Minister of Health and Welfare Cho Kyoo-hong promised to meet with the acting commissioner general of the National Police Agency next week to accelerate the establishment of investigation guidelines.

The Ajou University Hospital doctors who expressed their intent to resign plan to maintain normal treatment for now while monitoring the guideline establishment process.

(Video by Kim Seung-tae | Design by Cho Su-in)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.