After a man in Kyongsong County, North Hamgyong Province, died after failing to receive timely treatment, the provincial prosecutors’ office has been investigating doctors at a local hospital, Daily NK has learned.
“A middle-aged man living in Kyongsong County arrived at the medical hospital around 8 AM after experiencing a sudden ileus, or obstruction of the bowels, early in the morning during the extended holidays for the Lunar New Year last month. But the doctor on duty carelessly told the man to go to the provincial hospital instead, and the man missed the right time for treatment, leading to his death,” a source in North Hamgyong Province told Daily NK on Wednesday, speaking on condition of anonymity.
“The man’s family members were outraged and took the issue to the provincial prosecutors’ office.”
According to the source, the middle-aged man was carried to the military hospital by family members after suddenly complaining about severe abdominal pain during the holiday.
One emergency care doctor and one dentist were on duty at the hospital at the time, but the doctor who was supposed to treat patients in emergencies was in no shape to work because of a drunken bender the night before. In the end, the dentist gave the man a referral for treatment at the provincial hospital and sent him on his way without even providing first aid, the source said.
The patient’s family members took the referral but found themselves at a loss, lacking a vehicle to take them all the way to the provincial hospital in Chongjin. But they reached out to their connections and eventually managed to find a truck.
Ileus is a condition that must be dealt with promptly, and the patient had been operated on for that condition in the past, making his family members even more anxious. Not long after they set out for the hospital, the man fell unconscious in the moving vehicle. By the time they reached the provincial hospital, his blood pressure was too low and his pulse too uneven to perform an operation. The man ultimately died while receiving emergency aid, according to the source.
“The fact that the man had died without receiving proper treatment enraged his family members, who took the case to the provincial prosecutors. They protested that his life could have been saved given the proper treatment and that he’d died because of incompetence at the military hospital. Even now, they still loudly insist that the two doctors on duty should be prosecuted for murder,” the source said.
The two doctors who were on duty over the holiday are not being allowed to work at the hospital and are being questioned by the prosecutors, the source continued, adding, “The prosecutors have called out the incompetence of the doctors at the military hospital and are extending their investigation to the hospital director and other officials.”
In connection with this incident, all hospitals in North Hamgyong Province were warned on Feb. 1 that they must fulfill their duty to care for the lives of the people.
Translated by David Carruth. Edited by Robert Lauler.
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