"Four Newborn Deaths" Edae Mokdong Hospital Medical Staff Acquitted in Second Trial: "Difficult to Consider Guilty"

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Hyung-min] The medical staff at Ewha Mokdong Hospital, where four newborns died in 2017, were acquitted again in the appellate court following the first trial.

The Seoul High Court Criminal Division 8 (Presiding Judges Bae Hyung-won, Kang Sang-wook, Bae Sang-won) on the 16th acquitted a total of seven people, including Professor Cho Su-jin of the Pediatrics Department and the head nurse of Ewha Mokdong Hospital, who were charged with involuntary manslaughter due to negligence, just as in the first trial.

The court stated, "This is a case where four victims died almost simultaneously in the same neonatal intensive care unit, making it difficult to find similar precedents," and added, "While this could be a reason to hold the related parties strictly accountable, careful judgment is required first." It further pointed out, "The prosecution's charges are based on inference and combined only unfavorable possibilities while excluding favorable possibilities for the defendants."

It also said, "As the prosecutor claims, there is a possibility that the Smoflipid (lipid nutrition) administered to the victims was contaminated with Citrobacter freundii, which seems more likely than other possibilities," but added, "Nevertheless, in a situation where other undeniable possibilities clearly exist, the defendants cannot be convicted."

Earlier, four newborns being treated in incubators in the neonatal intensive care unit at Ewha Mokdong Hospital died sequentially from infection-induced sepsis on the afternoon of December 15, 2017, sparking controversy. The prosecution judged that the syringes were contaminated due to medical staff negligence, considering that Citrobacter freundii was commonly found in the bodies and syringes of the deceased newborns, and indicted the medical staff.

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