Hwang lost his wife four years ago. After undergoing cataract surgery at a university hospital in Gyeonggi-do, his wife collapsed a day before she was discharged from the hospital and was unable to return to her family.



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It's cataract surgery...

"With cataract surgery, even grandmothers and grandfathers walk in and walk out. It's not surgery, it's almost a procedure." - Kim Mo, a 50-year-old woman whose husband Hwang

died, underwent cataract surgery due to complications from diabetes at 2019 a.m. on December 12, 19, at University Hospital. The progress of the operation was good enough to walk and eat with my husband immediately after the operation.

I was scheduled to leave the hospital the next morning, and the next day my youngest son's high school graduation was held.

At 10:8 p.m., Kim fell into a coma. The next afternoon, Kim died without waking up.

When his wife died suddenly, his mother died, and the family suspected medical malpractice from the beginning.



Suspicious circumstances captured on CCTV

The family watched CCTV in the hospital room and became convinced of a 'medical malpractice'.

CCTV illuminates the corridor of the hospital room. Nurse A leaves the room where Kim was hospitalized and rushes to find another nurse. It was just after Kim was injected with antibiotics.



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As Miss A and another nurse return to the room, Ms. Kim complains of chest tightness and stumbles forward at the entrance of the room.

Kim's son said, "People in the same ward told me, 'The nurse gave me an injection and it happened.'"

The family immediately requested an autopsy through the police. The National Institute of Scientific Investigation stated in its autopsy report that "it is reasonable to first consider the possibility of drug-induced anaphylaxis (anaphylactic shock)."



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Substances that tested positive in skin tests

Kim's heart blood detected the antibiotic cefbuferazone. The ingredient was a substance that should not be taken because Kim's antibiotic skin test tested positive. Kim was supposed to take another drug.

Lawyer Lee Jae-hee (former legal director of the Korean Medical Association) said, "A single dose of cefbuperazone was detected in the residual blood of the heart. Nurse A suspected that the accident was caused by a mistaken injection shortly before the deceased's shock occurred."

Nurse A reportedly retorted to the investigating agency's investigation to the effect that "I took the medication, but it was not me who prepared the injection." He acknowledged the medication, but it was someone else who made the injection.

The prosecution reportedly examined both the doctor and the nurse on the same floor as references in order to confirm Nurse A's statement.



Four years later before the trial

The judgment reached by the prosecution four years after the accident is the personal negligence of Nurse A.

The Uijeongbu District Prosecutor's Office in charge of the case handed over Mr. A to trial on 4 March on charges of professional manslaughter. The other officials were not brought in because there were no clear criminal charges.

In prosecuting Mr. A, the prosecution specifically stated the allegations: "Even though he knew that he should not administer cefbuferazone, which tested positive, he mixed it with saline to make an injection and then injected it intravenously so that the victim collapsed from anaphylaxis."

It was determined that not only the medication but also the manufacture of the injectable drug was done by Mr. A himself.

When asked what life was like for her family after the accident, her husband, Huang, was in tears and couldn't continue. My youngest son, Hwang Min-so, said instead, "The blouse, the furniture she loved and the dog she tried to wear to my high school graduation are all there, but my mother is not the only one," adding, "I hope that both the hospital and the nurses will be punished fairly."



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"I will respond after the lawsuit is over"... Hospital without apology

The bereaved family has not received a proper apology from the nurse or hospital director. There was no explanation or comfort.

Her husband, Mr. Huang, said, "At such a large hospital whose name you can only recognize, a family was destroyed and did not say a word of apology. We must never repeat what we have suffered."

The family has filed a civil lawsuit against the hospital, but no trial has yet been scheduled.

The university hospital only issued a brief text response after several phone calls from SBS reporters.


"We can't answer your inquiry. We will be able to respond after the case is concluded."