Hospital Staff Issued False 'COVID Negative' Certificates Receives Suspended Sentence

Court: "Considering the Period of National Disaster"

A hospital employee who falsified COVID-19 test results for a patient transferred to another hospital was sentenced to imprisonment. Photo by Cheongju District Court.

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Jung-wan] An employee of Goesan Seongmo Hospital who falsely wrote a COVID-19 test report as 'negative' for a confirmed patient was sentenced to imprisonment.

On the 17th, Judge Ahn Jae-hoon of the Criminal Division 2 at Cheongju District Court announced that he sentenced A (55), an employee of Goesan Seongmo Hospital, who was indicted on charges of forgery of private documents, use of forged private documents, and obstruction of business, to six months in prison with a two-year probation.

A is accused of falsifying the COVID-19 test results of an inpatient at Goesan Seongmo Hospital in Chungbuk, where he worked, on December 11, 2020, and sending the confirmed patient to another hospital.

It was found that he arbitrarily recorded the medical opinion of patient B, who was scheduled to be transferred to a hospital in Gyeonggi-do, as negative without conducting a COVID-19 test through the hospital's computer system.

On the 15th of the same month, A was also investigated for forging the COVID-19 test results as negative for two patients who were to be transferred to a hospital located in Eumseong-gun, Chungbuk.

A's side claimed that it was due to customary work procedures and that adherence to transfer times between cooperating medical institutions was important, so it was unavoidable. Hospital employee C (50), who ordered the patient transfer despite knowing A's crime, was fined 5 million won.

Judge Ahn said, "The defendants' crimes paralyzed the operations of the related hospitals, and patients and their families suffered extreme anxiety and inconvenience, so the guilt is not light," adding, "It is unforgivable under any excuse to prepare a diagnosis in the doctor's name and transfer the patient before the COVID-19 results were even out."

However, he explained the sentencing by saying, "This case occurred while medical institution workers were diligently performing their duties under excessive workloads during a national disaster. Considering that harsh punishment of the defendants might discourage anyone from actively working in future disaster situations and that they admitted their wrongdoing, the sentence was determined."

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