Patient’s companion disrupts ER after doctors prioritize cardiac arrest

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A hospital in Gangwon Province has reported to authorities to pursue criminal charges against a patient's companion, alleging she was the cause of a disruption at the emergency room when doctors treated a cardiac arrest patient at a higher priority.

According to local reports, the hospital accused a woman of unspecified identity of disrupting emergency room duties for over an hour by shouting profanities and insults at the medical staff. She complained that the patient she had brought in -- her relationship with whom was not made public -- had been forced to wait for 15 minutes while doctors treated another patient.

The incident on Oct. 1 concerned a man who was taken to the emergency room after collapsing in the sauna of a public bathhouse. After an initial examination, doctors recommended a CT scan.

At that point, however, a person suffering cardiac arrest was brought to the emergency room, and doctors treated that patient at a higher priority.

The woman accompanying the man who had collapsed in the sauna allegedly complained for over an hour despite police intervention, making it more difficult for medical staff to attend to other patients in the emergency room, according to the hospital. An examination of the patient whom she accompanied did not reveal any medical anomalies.

Disrupting emergency medical duties is punishable under the law, depending on whether the court rules it as obstruction of duty under the Criminal Act or interference with emergency medical services under the Emergency Medical Service Act. Violators of the former face up to five years in prison or 15 million won ($11,100) in fines, while punishment for the latter may be up to five years in prison or 50 million won in fines.

There have recently been calls for more severe punishment of disruption of emergency room duties. This includes an ultimately unsuccessful attempt in 2018 to revise the law by then-Rep. Yoon Jong-pil of what is now the ruling People Power Party to subject violators to up to 10 years in prison.

Last year, Rep. Kim Won-i of the main opposition Democratic Party of Korea proposed a bill revision to punish violence against emergency room security personnel; the current interference with emergency medical services clause only targets violence against those defined as medical staff, meaning doctors, medical technicians and nurses.