Psychiatrist killed by patient on New Year's Eve
By Kang Seung-woo
A psychiatrist at a general hospital in Seoul was stabbed to death by one of his patients on Monday evening.
A psychiatrist was stabbed to death by his patient at Kangbuk Samsung Hospital in Seoul, Monday. / Korea Times file
According to the Jongno Police Station, Tuesday, while the 30-year-old patient surnamed Park was receiving a psychiatric consultation at Kangbuk Samsung Hospital, he suddenly moved towards the doctor wielding a knife, at 5:44 p.m.
The 47-year-old psychiatrist, identified as Lim, avoided the initial attempted assault and escaped his office, but slipped and fell to the ground, where he was stabbed in the chest multiple times.
Right after the attack, the doctor was taken to the emergency room, but was declared dead at around 7:30 p.m.
A nurse called police and they arrested the assailant at the scene.
Later Tuesday, polie requested an arrest warrant for Park.
The murderer was said to have suffered from bipolar disorder, a psychiatric condition characterized by dramatic shifts in mood from depression to mania, but police declined to confirm it, saying the medical history of a patient is sensitive information.
Police said Park admitted to the crime, but his explanation as to why he killed the doctor was incoherent.
They plan to analyze surveillance footage and Park's belongings, while investigating people around him to find the root cause of the homicide.
The incident occurred as the number of violent assaults at hospitals is on the increase.
A patient attacked a doctor with a hammer and destroyed equipment last July at a hospital in Gangneung, Gangwon Province, out of complaints that he received a lower-than-expected disability grade that would grant him a disability allowance.
In the same month, a drunk patient also attacked a doctor in Iksan, North Jeolla Province, while a man in his 30s was arrested for attacking a doctor after waiting what he thought was too long in the emergency room of a hospital in Incheon, Sunday.