The hospital run by psychiatrist and broadcaster Yang Jae-woong will receive a business suspension order.
According to a Yonhap News report on the 8th, that day the Bucheon City Public Health Center in Gyeonggi Province said it sent a preliminary notice of a three-month business suspension to a Bucheon hospital where unlicensed medical acts by medical staff (violation of the Medical Service Act) and other offenses were uncovered.
The public health center plans to issue the final administrative disposition after receiving the hospital's submitted opinions by the end of this month.
A hospital official reportedly said regarding some media reports that the hospital was undergoing closure procedures, "We have not received anything related to closure, so there is nothing to separately inform."
A Bucheon City Public Health Center official said, "There are currently no closure-related documents submitted by the hospital," and added, "If the hospital submits a statement saying it will accept a penalty surcharge, it can continue operating without a business suspension."
Attending physician A, in his 40s, who works at the hospital, and five nurses were referred to trial last month on charges including professional negligence resulting in death.
According to the investigation, Mr. B complained of severe abdominal pain to the medical staff before his death. However, he was reportedly subjected instead to compulsive measures that tied his hands, feet and chest to the bed. Mr. B eventually died 17 days after being admitted for treatment of diet pill poisoning.
The National Forensic Service's autopsy results estimated the deceased died from "intestinal pseudo-obstruction" and other causes. Intestinal pseudo-obstruction is a condition in which there is no actual physical blockage in the intestines, but abnormal reduction in intestinal motility causes symptoms similar to mechanical bowel obstruction.
The bereaved family filed a complaint against six medical staff on charges of abandonment leading to death and professional negligence resulting in death, alleging the hospital neglected Mr. B despite knowing his condition deteriorated. The National Human Rights Commission also raised suspicions of ordering or aiding the falsification of medical records and requested an investigation by the Supreme Prosecutors' Office into five people, including Yang Jae-woong.
Two months after the incident, in July last year, Yang Jae-woong issued an official apology through his agency Mystic Story, saying, "As the hospital director, not only I but all medical staff will cooperate sincerely with the investigation," and, "I sincerely apologize to the deceased and the bereaved family."
Prosecutors have taken over the case from the police and are continuing related investigations into seven medical staff, including Yang Jae-woong.
[Photo] OSEN DB
[OSEN]