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

According to the Ulsan Jungbu Police Station and other sources, the child, 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 incident occurred.

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

Although her heartbeat was restored while receiving 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 of the accident, the eye hospital explained that oxygen was not properly supplied during the anesthesia process, and stated 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 also accelerating the investigation by recently executing a search and seizure at the hospital to secure surgery-related evidence.

Some of the nursing staff present at the time of the accident have been summoned for questioning, and police are coordinating a schedule for the anesthesiologist's appearance.

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

It was reported that the freelance anesthesiologist who was in charge of child A's anesthesia explained to the bereaved family that, upon inspecting the equipment a few days after the accident, the two circuits through which air flows in and out appeared to have been connected in reverse.

Police plan to verify the connection status of the circuits at the time of the accident and whether the medical staff were negligent, based on statements from those involved, the autopsy results, and evaluations from specialized institutions.

They are also investigating the circumstances under which the operating room CCTV failed to record at the time of the incident.

Authorities plan to determine whether there were any violations of the Medical Service Act following consultations regarding the timing at which recording obligations apply.

The mother of child A recently shared the news of her daughter's death on social media, urging for the truth to be uncovered and stating that she wants to know if the accident could have been prevented, and if so, why it was not prevented.

(Photo: Yonhap News)