A psychiatrist and broadcaster, Yang Jae-woong (43), who runs the hospital where a patient died, and the attending physician A was eventually arrested.
Yonhap News reported on the 20th that the Gyeonggi Nambu Police Agency's criminal mobile unit arrested A on charges including professional negligence causing death. Incheon District Court Bucheon Branch Director General Yang Woo-chang issued the arrest warrant, saying "there is a concern about evidence destruction."
A is accused of causing the death of a woman in her 30s, patient B, on May 27 last year by failing to properly secure her while she was hospitalized. B died 17 days after being admitted for treatment of diet pill poisoning, and it was reported that her hands and feet were bound at the time, adding to the social shock.
Earlier, the police had sought arrest warrants for three hospital medical staff including A, but the prosecution rejected them, and then the Seoul High Prosecutors' Office warrant review committee decided that "A's arrest is appropriate," leading to the reapplication of the warrant.
So far, 11 suspects have been booked by the police in connection with this case, including hospital director Yang Jae-woong. The police are conducting a focused investigation into the overall management responsibility of the hospital and whether the medical staff were negligent.
Meanwhile, Yang Jae-woong recently appeared at a parliamentary audit and answered related questions, and controversy over fact-finding and responsibility is expected to continue.
Meanwhile, singer and actress Hanni, Yang Jae-woong's publicly known partner, acknowledged in 2022 that she was dating Yang Jae-woong, who is 10 years her senior, and they planned to marry last year, but postponed the wedding indefinitely after the patient death incident at Yang's hospital.
[Photo] Provided by agency, SNS
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