A nursing assistant who had been habitually injecting diverted medical narcotics at home died, an incident that came to light during the investigation. Authorities also found indications that the narcotics were siphoned off by inflating reported usage at the workplace.
According to the Ministery of Food and Drug Safety on the 29th, a nursing assistant, identified as A, and a physician, identified as B, at an internal medicine clinic in Gwangjin District, Seoul, were caught on suspicion of violating the Act on the Control of Narcotics and sent to prosecutors.
The case began with a police death investigation. The Seoul Gwangjin Police Station found multiple signs of injection, including propofol and syringes, at A's home and asked the Ministery of Food and Drug Safety's Central Investigation Unit for Crimes Against Public Health to investigate the illegal distribution of medical narcotics.
The Ministery of Food and Drug Safety's dedicated investigation team confirmed that the propofol found at the home had been supplied by the clinic where A worked, and conducted a search and seizure. As a result, it was revealed that for about four months from Sept. 12, 2025, to mid-Jan. 2026, A falsely reported using more endoscopy narcotics than actually used and diverted 98 units of propofol and 64 units of midazolam, among others.
An autopsy by the National Forensic Service found that A, who was not an authorized narcotics handler, habitually injected large quantities of narcotics at home using syringes and other equipment and died. The narcotics actually used were 96 units of propofol and 61 units of midazolam, and 132 syringes were found together. This equates to roughly one unit of propofol and about 0.5 units of midazolam per day during the offense period, an amount that exceeds the Ministery of Food and Drug Safety's safe-use standards.
Separately, A was found to have diverted and stored at home 138 units (10 items) of prescription-only injectable drugs, including steroids, anti-inflammatory analgesics, and antibiotics.
Physician B was found to have neglected oversight by delegating related duties to A despite being responsible for preventing narcotics leaks and false reporting. In particular, after A's death, B was also found to have falsely reported to the Ministery of Food and Drug Safety that some narcotics were administered to other patients in order to reconcile missing inventory.
Propofol is an intravenous anesthetic used for sleep anesthesia or induction of general anesthesia, and midazolam is used as a sedative before surgery or examinations. Both drugs are psychotropic medicines that must be used only under continuous medical supervision because overdoses can cause serious side effects such as respiratory depression and hypotension.
An official at the Ministery of Food and Drug Safety said, "We will strengthen management and oversight to prevent false reporting or illegal removal during the handling of medical narcotics and will work with related agencies such as the police to strictly investigate illegal use."