Ewha Medical Center downgraded over newborn deaths

Officers from the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency carry boxes of confiscated material out of the neonatal intensive care unit at Ewha Womans University Medical Center after conducting a search related to the deaths of four premature babies, Dec. 19. Yonhap

By Lee Kyung-min

The government has lowered the status of Ewha Womans University Medical Center in its assessment, following the deaths of four newborns at the hospital due to a possible infection combined with possible staff negligence.

The decision came shortly before the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC) said Citrobacter freundii, a gram-negative type of bacteria found earlier in the blood of three of the babies, were also found in intravenous solutions all four were injected with. This increased the possibility that the mix became tainted while hospital staff administered it to the babies. The KCDC said contamination in the solution production was unlikely.

The Ministry of Health and Welfare said Tuesday that a decision to assess the hospital grade had been delayed to await a recommendation from the accreditation committee that said an accurate deliberation should be made after the cause of the deaths were identified. The four died within an hour-and-a-half of each other in the center’s neonatal intensive care unit (NICU), Dec. 16.

“The committee had been unable to carry out an inspection of the NICU after it was shut down following the deaths. It was, therefore, unable to assess whether the NICU met the safety standards, a key requirement in grading the hospital,” the ministry said in a statement. Discussion are underway, the ministry added, to come up with evaluation criteria not only for the quality of care, but also the ethical and social responsibility of the hospital. “So far, we have mostly focused on each medical institution’s capacity to treat major diseases that require a high-level of knowledge and skills, but we will set up new standards and guidelines to ensure the social responsibility expected of them,” it said.

The delay reflects criticism that the hospital failed to properly conduct infection control measures, partly evidenced by the bacterial infection found in three of the four babies shortly before they died.

Public anger has further intensified as legal experts say winning a medical malpractice case against hospitals is highly unlikely as the claimants have to prove causality between deaths or injuries and the treatment given, a task impossible to perform unless the person doing the investigation has the same level of knowledge that medical professionals have.

Following the announcement, the hospital in Yangcheon, western Seoul, will be stripped of the top grade, currently maintained by 42 large hospitals in ten regions nationwide. The much-coveted accreditation _ valid for three years _ was established in 2011 to encourage large hospitals capable of treating serious diseases including cancer, cardiovascular and cerebral diseases to provide better treatment. The designation enables a hospital to charge 30 percent more for treatment, a major boost in hospital revenue. Hospitals have to obtain accreditation every three years following ministry-conducted on-site inspections. Accredited hospitals are sought by patients with serious medical conditions who want the best treatment.