By Park Si-soo
Yonsei University’s Severance Hospital has drawn criticism from the state human rights agency for its refusal to treat an HIV positive patient after giving unconvincing reasons.
The National Human Rights Commission said Thursday it had urged the hospital’s head to prevent a recurrence of the act that is viewed as a grave violation of human rights. It also demanded the health ministry monitor the hospital more tightly.
HIV, which is short for Human Immunodeficiency Virus, may lead to AIDS for which there is no cure.
The state human rights watchdog opened an investigation into the hospital in February after a patient surnamed Kim, who is HIV positive, filed a written complaint.
Kim said he visited the hospital in December last year to undergo surgery which would replace a troubled knee with an artificial one. But the hospital delayed the operation several times, citing “no stock of special rubber gloves” for the surgery, he said.
In response to Kim’s complaint over the delay, the hospital said special gloves, proven to be more durable than ordinary surgical gloves, were necessary to prevent doctors from being infected with the HIV virus.
The hospital added the gloves were no longer imported so it had no choice but to delay his surgery. The gloves are not produced domestically.
Yet, the commission found in the investigation that the hospital’s allegations were unconvincing.
“We deemed that his surgery was possible without the special gloves,” it said, citing medical reports and indicated the hospital delayed the surgery with apparent intent to avoid it. “Ordinary surgical gloves were suitable for the surgery since they would have been strong enough to prevent contact with the patient’s blood.”
The watchdog also found Kim had eventually undergone the procedure at another hospital. It was also confirmed that Yonsei University Severance Hospital hasn’t performed this type of surgery on HIV positive patients’ joints for the past two years.
In a survey of 255 HIV positive patients by the commission in 2005, more than 50 percent said they were discriminated against by hospitals.