Four dead: Safety of IV drips comes into question

By Jung Hae-myoung

The health authorities are investigating the deaths of four patients in Incheon who died over a two-month period after being treated using intravenous (IV) drips.

An 11-year-old died at a general hospital in Yeonsu-gu, Sunday, after being placed on an IV drip to treat symptoms of enteritis. Just 20 minutes after the drip was started he went into cardiac arrest and died within an hour, according to the police who are looking into the case.

The boy had been treated for his symptoms and the common cold at a small clinic for two days before being transferred to the general hospital. The health authorities suspected the boy had endocarditis; but the National Forensic Service said Tuesday that after a preliminary autopsy it could not find a direct cause of death and so would conduct further more detailed tests.

Earlier on Sept. 3, two women in their 60s receiving “energy boosting” treatment through IV drips at a clinic in Namdong-gu and went into septic shock. One of them died four days later.

Another woman, in her 50s, also died after suffering a cardiac arrest while receiving a mixture of antibiotics and nutritional supplements through an IV infusion at a hospital in Bupyeong-gu, Sept. 13.

On Sept. 26, a male patient in his 40s with symptoms of chest pain, diarrhea and stomachache was being treated via an IV drip when he too had a heart attack. He died two-and-a-half hours later.

According to an initial investigation conducted by the health authorities, all four of the deceased patients had different symptoms and treatments, and attended different medical facilities.

“Because the deaths did not happen in one specific location, in principle the cases were not subject to epidemiological reporting by the health authorities,” an official at the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Monday. “However, considering they happened consecutively at medical facilities in the same region, we are considering conducting an examination.”

Officials from the Incheon Metropolitan City Government health department said they had not yet ascertained whether the deaths were a result of medical malpractice, infection or other causes, but will inspect 20 emergency medical institutions to check for possible poor management of medicines.