"Violated Curfew and Swore"... Psychiatric Hospital Nurse Assaults Patient, Causing Death

Police logo [Captured from Yonhap News TV]

[Asia Economy Intern Reporter Park Hee-eun] A male nurse at a psychiatric hospital has been booked on charges of causing the death of a patient by knocking him to the floor after the patient allegedly insulted him for breaking the designated bedtime.

On the 30th, the Hapcheon Police Station in Gyeongnam announced that they have detained and are investigating nurse A (47) on charges of assault causing injury.

A is accused of grabbing patient B (55) by the collar and knocking him down in the hallway of a psychiatric hospital in Hapcheon around 9 p.m. on the 20th, resulting in B's death from the impact.

According to the police investigation, B was transferred to a hospital in Daegu but died after eight days.

A claimed that the incident was unintentional, stating that B had broken the set bedtime and insulted him, leading to a scuffle.

The police stated that depending on whether B's direct cause of death was due to A's assault, the charge could be upgraded from assault causing injury to assault causing death.

Currently, the police have requested an autopsy from the National Forensic Service to determine B's cause of death.

Therefore, they plan to apply for an arrest warrant as soon as the autopsy results are available.

Meanwhile, the police are also investigating whether hospital officials who sent false work logs to the bereaved family claiming "the patient fell and injured himself" were negligent.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.