"Severed Leg Mistaken for Cast": Volunteer Disposes of Medical Waste

[Anchor]

A human leg found at a recycling center in Incheon last week has been identified as belonging to a patient at a nursing hospital. The hospital stated that a cleaning volunteer mistook the severed limb for a plaster cast and disposed of it with recyclable waste.

Reporter Lee Se-hyun has the story.

[Reporter]

The human leg, discovered at a recycling center in Yeonsu-gu, Incheon, on the afternoon of June 10, has been confirmed to belong to a woman in her 80s who was hospitalized at a nursing facility about 25 kilometers away.

The nursing hospital voluntarily reported the incident on the afternoon of June 17, and police received verbal confirmation from the National Forensic Service yesterday (June 18) that the DNA matched.

[Lee Heon / Chief of Detective Division, Incheon Yeonsu Police Station: Due to a mistake by an internal cleaning volunteer, the leg, which had been placed in medical waste, was removed and mistakenly separated and disposed of, as it was thought to be a plaster cast...]

The hospital stated that the limb was wrapped in bandages and disposed of in a medical waste bag according to protocol on June 8. However, the cleaning volunteer allegedly mistook it for a plaster cast and moved it to a recycling bag for disposal.

Police stated that they are currently investigating the process of the amputation and the circumstances surrounding its disposal.

The hospital in question does not have an operating room.

[Hospital Representative: We do not have an operating room. We can tell you that much, but we cannot provide any further details.]

During police questioning, a hospital official explained that the leg had undergone necrosis to the point where anesthesia was not required, and that the amputation was performed with the family's consent because no other hospital would accept the patient.

Separate from the police investigation, the Ministry of Health and Welfare has also begun verifying the facts to determine whether there were any violations of the Medical Service Act.

(Video reporting: Lim Dong-gook, Lee Sang-hak | Video editing: Jo Moo-hwan | Design: Lee Jong-jung)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.