Soldier Dies During Surgery After Falling While Returning from Military Outing... Supreme Court Rules "Not Eligible for Veterans Benefits"

1st Trial "Not During Duty" → 2nd Trial "Died While Preparing for Military Return"
Supreme Court "Scope of Veterans Compensation Recipients Excessively Expanded"

The Supreme Court has ruled that a soldier who died of cardiac arrest while waking up from anesthesia after surgery at a military hospital following a fall accident after a company outing is not eligible as a national merit recipient.

The Supreme Court's First Division (Presiding Justice No Tae-ak) announced on the 30th that it overturned the lower court's ruling to cancel the refusal to register as a compensation recipient and remanded the case to the Daegu High Court in the appeal filed by the family of soldier A against the head of the Gyeongbuk Northern Veterans Affairs Office regarding the decision that the family was not eligible as national merit recipients.

Corporal A of the Army fell about 12 meters while trying to enter a fourth-floor room through the rooftop because he did not have the key to the single officers' quarters when returning there in the evening after drinking with his unit members during a company outing in July 2003.

A suffered fractures to his skull, lumbar vertebrae, and ankle and was taken to the emergency room. Later, he underwent an eight-hour surgery under general anesthesia at a military hospital to treat the ankle fracture, but during the process of waking from anesthesia, he experienced arrhythmia and cardiac arrest and died.

A’s family applied for registration as national merit recipients in June 2020, but the application was rejected on the grounds that "the deceased’s death does not meet the requirements for national merit recipients or compensation recipients." The family then filed a lawsuit.

The first trial ruled against the plaintiff, stating that A’s death could not be considered primarily caused by duties or training directly related to national defense. In contrast, the second trial judged that the soldier died during preparatory acts aimed at recovering combat readiness and returning to military service, and while he could not be recognized as a national merit recipient, he qualified as a compensation recipient, partially ruling in favor of the plaintiff.

However, the Supreme Court overturned the second trial’s decision. The court stated, "It is difficult to consider that the mere abstract obligation of recovering combat readiness or returning to military service applies here," and added, "If receiving treatment and surgery at a military hospital is regarded as preparatory acts related to duty performance, the scope of compensation recipients would become excessively broad."

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