Baby girl unconscious for month after being turned away by 11 ERs
Paramedics transport a patient from an ambulance outside a hospital in Seoul, Sept. 3. Yonhap
A 28-month-old girl has remained unconscious for a month after being denied emergency treatment by over 10 hospitals in the Seoul metropolitan area, authorities said Tuesday, amid the prolonged disruption of the local medical system due to the ongoing strike by junior doctors.
The tragedy began at 8:40 p.m. on Aug. 4 when the baby girl living in Goyang, just northwest of Seoul, fell into critical condition due to febrile convulsions and was reported to the 119 emergency rescue service, according to officials at the Gyeonggi Northern Fire and Disaster Headquarters.
The rescue team contacted 11 hospital emergency rooms in Seoul and the surrounding Gyeonggi Province but all of them refused to accept the baby girl, citing a lack of medical staff. She was finally admitted to the 12th hospital contacted by the rescue team, Inha University Hospital in Incheon, 32 kilometers west of Seoul, more than one hour later that day.
The girl was conscious at the time of hospital admission despite symptoms of body stiffness, but fell into a coma and has yet to regain consciousness, the officials said.
"We had managed to find a hospital in Incheon willing to treat her after repeated failures to find an emergency room, but it is a very unfortunate situation for her," said an official, adding she is now being treated in an unconscious state at a hospital in Seoul. (Yonhap)