Firefighter with Mental Illness and Extreme Suicide at Disaster Site for 10 Years... Court Recognizes as Line of Duty Death

[Asia Economy Reporter Seongpil Jo] He had been at horrific accident scenes for over 10 years. Due to extreme stress, he was diagnosed with panic disorder. His symptoms worsened to the point of making an extreme choice. This is the story of a firefighter who served about 12 years in emergency medical services out of his 23 years of experience.

The bereaved families filed a lawsuit against the head of the Ministry of Personnel Management. They sought to cancel the decision not to pay survivor benefits for duty-related deaths. The late firefighter Mr. A's wife stated, "My husband suffered due to his work right before he passed away."

The Seoul Administrative Court, Administrative Division 7 (Chief Judge Kim Guk-hyun) recently accepted the families' claims and ruled in favor of the plaintiffs. The court stated, "We recognize a causal relationship between the official duties and the death." The court further explained, "It appears that Mr. A died in a situation where reasonable judgment was impossible due to a mental illness caused by stress from official duties."

A key basis for the judgment was that Mr. A expressed his suffering to colleagues and family while working in emergency medical services. According to colleagues' testimonies, Mr. A showed a bright demeanor after being promoted in 2014 and relieved from emergency duties. However, after being reassigned back to emergency duties within six months, he reportedly experienced significant stress. He was said to have cried to his wife, expressing psychological burden and pain.

Since 2010, Mr. A had complained of sleep disorders, anxiety, and fear symptoms and was diagnosed with panic disorder at a psychiatric clinic. Fearing that his treatment for panic disorder would become known at work, he hardly received treatment from around 2014. This reportedly caused his symptoms to worsen. In 2015, Mr. A made an extreme choice at his home.

The court pointed out, "Mr. A seemed to have fallen into deep despair after returning to emergency duties within six months and often said he wanted to die as his condition worsened," adding, "Treatment for the mental illness should have started by removing him from emergency duties."

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