The Korean Medical Association expressed deep concern and strong regret on October 2 regarding the police raid on a pediatric emergency medical center at a university hospital while patients were being treated, calling it “an unprecedented incident that must never happen again.” The association demanded that the police explain the circumstances and establish clear procedures for conducting compulsory investigations at medical institutions.
On September 30, police executed a search warrant at a pediatric emergency medical center at a university hospital in southern Gyeonggi Province. This was part of an investigation into the death of a child patient who had been receiving treatment at the center last summer. The search took place while other pediatric patients were still being treated.
The KMA first offered prayers for the repose of the deceased child’s soul and conveyed condolences to the bereaved family, stating that the medical community would cooperate faithfully in clarifying the facts of the case. However, it emphasized that the decision to subject an emergency room—where medical care was in full swing—to a forced search must be considered separately from the investigation into the facts.
According to the KMA, there were children undergoing treatment at the center at the time—including a 6-month-old infant who had been brought in suffering from convulsions—and medical staff were forced to relocate to continue their work while police reviewed data on the clinic’s computers. The KMA pointed out that pediatric emergency centers are places where life and death can hinge on a matter of minutes, and where prescriptions and test orders are issued via emergency room computers; it argued that the operation’s brief duration and the use of vacant spaces do not justify the search.
The KMA argued that there were ways to obtain the data without conducting a search and seizure. Under the Medical Service Act, medical institutions can voluntarily submit medical records through the voluntary submission procedure outlined in the Criminal Procedure Act; electronic medical records retain a history of modifications; and work records, such as on-call schedules, can be obtained upon request from the hospital. The KMA added that even if a warrant had been required, the data could have been obtained from the medical records department or the hospital’s computer servers.
They also emphasized that medical negligence cannot be presumed solely based on the fact that a critically ill child died; rather, whether negligence occurred can only be determined through a medical review of the child’s condition and the circumstances of treatment at the time. Last April, the National Assembly amended the Medical Dispute Mediation Act to establish a Medical Accident Review Committee, where experts deliberate on whether a medical accident involved gross negligence. The Korean Medical Association (KMA) stated that this incident could further paralyze pediatric emergency care, potentially causing doctors willing to take responsibility for critically ill children to leave the field first, and stressed that the situation must not repeat the trend of doctors shunning pediatrics and adolescent medicine that intensified following the 2017 incident at Ewha Womans University Mokdong Hospital.
The KMA made three demands: The Southern Gyeonggi Provincial Police Agency must clarify the reasons for conducting a search and seizure at a pediatric emergency center while patients were being treated, as well as the circumstances surrounding the operation; it must establish investigative standards ensuring that data from emergency rooms, operating rooms, and intensive care units is obtained only through voluntary submission or other methods that do not interfere with patient care; and that the government should not wait for the revised Medical Dispute Mediation Act to take effect but should instead ensure that subordinate regulations stipulate that medical evaluations take precedence over compulsory investigations in medical malpractice cases.
The KMA stated that it would respond in cooperation with the Korean Society of Pediatric Emergency Medicine and the Korean Society of Emergency Medicine to ensure that medical staff can devote themselves to treating critically ill children, adding, “This must be the last time a search and seizure is conducted in an emergency room while patients are being treated.”
