Doctor Kang, who caused the death of singer Shin Hae-chul due to medical negligence, has been sentenced again to prison for medical malpractice in a second trial. It is reported that this is the third time Kang has received a prison sentence for a medical accident.
According to the legal community on the 11th, the 9th Criminal Appeal Division of the Seoul Central District Court, led by Director General Lee Seong-bok, sentenced Kang, a man in his 50s, to one year in prison, the same as the first trial, on charges of negligent homicide in the course of his duties. A prison sentence limits personal freedom by confining an individual to a correctional facility, but does not mandate hard labor.
Kang was indicted in November 2021 without detention on charges of violating duty of care during surgery to remove a deep vein thrombosis from the thigh of a male patient in his 60s, resulting in the patient's death due to a torn blood vessel.
The court acknowledged that "the victim died due to Kang's professional negligence, including the significant bleeding that occurred during surgery and the delayed transfer to another hospital," stating that "even though the defendant deposited 30 million won, the irreversible damage caused by death necessitates severe punishment."
Kang previously performed Shin Hae-chul's gastric band surgery in October 2014, which resulted in the singer's death ten days later, and was sentenced to one year in prison by the Supreme Court in May 2018, which led to the cancellation of his medical license.
Kang also received a confirmed sentence of one year and two months in prison in January 2019 for his professional negligence that left scars after performing liposuction on a woman in her 30s in October 2013 and for causing the death of an Australian patient due to complications following stomach resection surgery in November 2015.