"Victims' Faces Haunt Me" Taiwanese Doctor Who Treated Itaewon Victims Reports PTSD Symptoms

Visited Korea to see relatives and treated at disaster site
"Screams growing louder... still hear wailing in my ears"

On the 2nd, police forces are controlling access around the Itaewon disaster site in Yongsan-gu, Seoul. Photo by Jinhyung Kang aymsdream@

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Jeong-wan] A Taiwanese medical worker who witnessed the Itaewon disaster revealed that they are suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

According to recent Taiwanese media Taiwan News, on the 31st of last month (local time), a netizen who introduced themselves as a Taiwanese doctor posted on Dcard, an anonymous online community for Taiwanese university students, that they treated many victims of the Itaewon disaster.

The author wrote that while on vacation in Korea visiting relatives, they witnessed the disaster scene in Itaewon. At first, they heard people crying out for help on the street outside a bar and dismissed it as a performance. However, as time passed and the screams grew louder, they realized the cries were due to the disaster.

They said that although working in internal medicine and providing emergency treatment is routine for them, due to lack of equipment, initially all they could do was visually assess the condition of the injured.

They added that when unconscious victims had no pulse, they immediately performed cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR), and when a pulse returned, they handed the patient over to medical staff and moved on to rescue the next victims.

The author stated that only after informing the emergency responders that they were medical personnel were they able to receive equipment support. They inserted ET tubes (endotracheal tubes) for those showing signs of hemothorax (accumulation of blood in the chest) or pneumothorax (air or gas in the pleural cavity), but said that very few victims recovered.

They expressed that they are experiencing trauma from this incident. The author said that as a doctor, they thought they could calmly handle any life-or-death situation, but on the day of the disaster, they were in a panic state.

They also lamented, "The victims' wailing and groaning still ring in my ears, and I occasionally wake up from nightmares," adding, "The faces of the victims distorted in cyan still haunt my mind."

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