Doctors say they cannot practice in southern Gyeonggi after senior police official declined to apologize for hospital raid
Seven doctors at Ajou University Hospital’s pediatric emergency center have threatened to resign amid a dispute over a police raid on the facility, the hospital confirmed Wednesday.
Police searched the center on Sept. 30 as part of an investigation into an infant’s death in July, after the child’s parents filed a complaint alleging medical negligence.
Medical staff said the search disrupted emergency care, while police maintained that officers followed procedure and did not interfere with treatment.
The seven doctors are among nine pediatric specialists at the center. The hospital said they had expressed their intention to leave but had not formally submitted resignation letters. None has left since the raid.
The dispute escalated Tuesday at a parliamentary audit by the National Assembly Health and Welfare Committee, where lawmakers from both parties demanded an apology from Ham Young-wook, head of the Gyeonggi Nambu Provincial Police Agency’s metropolitan investigation unit.
Ham expressed regret over the disruption experienced by medical staff but defended the search. He said investigators had consulted hospital officials beforehand and conducted a limited search in an unoccupied examination room with a hospital representative present.
Late that evening, Rep. Han Zee-a of the main opposition People Power Party told the committee that the center’s chief had informed her of the seven professors’ decision to resign after watching the proceedings.
Han said she had urged the professors to stay, but they told her their hands were shaking and they could no longer practice medicine within the police agency’s jurisdiction.
She said an apology from Ham could have prevented the situation and urged Health Minister Jeong Eun-kyeong to intervene, saying the hospital’s pediatric emergency center could not be allowed to close.
Jeong said she would discuss the matter further with the National Police Agency.
Questions over search procedures
The infant whose death prompted the investigation arrived at the pediatric emergency center in cardiac arrest in July and died despite more than an hour of CPR, according to accounts presented at the audit.
The subsequent search has drawn criticism from medical professionals who say police used excessive investigative measures against staff treating emergency patients.
Police maintain that the search was conducted within the minimum necessary scope after advance consultations with the hospital.
At Tuesday’s audit, however, lawmakers challenged the police account of how the warrant was executed and whether patient care had been interrupted.
Han said she had asked the hospital for surveillance footage but believed it was reluctant to risk a dispute with the police agency responsible for the area.
minsikyoon@heraldcorp.com
