Doctor receives suspended sentence after dementia patient was restrained for 96 hours and developed pulmonary embolism

A South Korean appeals court has upheld a suspended prison sentence for a doctor whose dementia patient developed a pulmonary embolism after being physically restrained for long periods.

The Criminal Appeals Division 4-3 of the Incheon District Court rejected the doctor’s appeal and retained the original sentence: six months in prison, suspended for two years, along with 80 hours of community service. The ruling was issued on September 7.

The 55-year-old doctor was prosecuted for professional negligence causing injury over the treatment of a 79-year-old patient with a cerebral hemorrhage and dementia at a hospital in Namdong-gu, Incheon, in August 2018.

The patient was restrained for 96 hours out of a 154-hour period from August 3 to August 10. The patient remained tied for 39 hours from the evening of August 5 until the morning of August 7. Table restraints began on the evening of August 8 and continued, except for four and a half hours when a guardian was present, until the patient was transferred to another hospital on the morning of August 10 after developing a pulmonary embolism.

During the appeal, the doctor argued that the restraints amounted to standard medical care. The court nevertheless upheld the original judgment.