4 incubator babies die in row at Seoul hospital

Medical staff at Ewha Womans University Medical Center face investigation after the deaths of four premature babies late Saturday.

The Seoul hospital’s PR director Kim Han-su said at a press conference Sunday that four premature babies at the hospital’s intensive care nursery suffered cardiac arrest and died between 9:32 p.m. and 10:53 p.m. Kim said the medical team performed CPR on the babies following the cardiac arrest, but all four of them died. Kim added that the case was shortly reported to the police at 11:07 p.m.

Regarding the other 12 babies at the intensive care nursery, four have been discharged from the hospital and eight have been transferred to other hospitals, Kim said.

Seoul Yangcheon Police Station and the National Forensic Service are currently conducting an on-site inspection at the hospital. The babies’ bodies have been placed in the hospital’s mortuary after an initial inspection. The bodies will be subject to full autopsy on Monday. Kim said the cause of the deaths cannot be identified until the inspection results come out.

(mjk625@heraldcorp.com)