Incheon psychiatric hospital where four have died this year ... Patient even threw a note out the window pleading, “Please save me”

[Financial News] It has emerged that last winter, an inpatient at Won Hospital in Michuhol-gu, Incheon, where four people have died this year, sought help by throwing a note out the window that read, “Please save me.”
According to the “Follow-up Action Plan on Won Hospital in Incheon,” submitted to Democratic Party of Korea lawmaker Heo Jong-sik (Incheon Dong-gu-Michuhol-gu A) by the Ministry of Health and Welfare on the 8th, the ministry, Incheon City and the Michuhol-gu Public Health Center will conduct a joint inspection of Won Hospital in Michuhol-gu, Incheon, next week.
Won Hospital is a psychiatric facility with 143 beds and 108 inpatients. All of its windows are blocked by iron bars, and people from outside can enter and exit only through a passageway beneath the building, according to the findings.
It emerged that last winter, an inpatient threw an SOS note reading “Please save me” out the window to call for help. Also, from January through June, four patients were found in cardiac or respiratory arrest and later died.
It was reported that no medical staff were stationed in the ward at the time and that patients were not properly monitored.
In particular, a patient with autism was reportedly unjustly isolated for 200 days in a room fitted with a lock because they were accused of stealing another patient’s coffee.
Investigators also found that the hospital had directed nursing assistants and care workers to isolate and restrain patients without medical staff present every day from 10 p.m. to 7 a.m. the following day, issuing orders for unlicensed medical practices and restricting patients’ freedom of communication.
However, it was confirmed that the Michuhol-gu Public Health Center, which has jurisdiction over the hospital, had issued only four corrective orders in total from 2024 through this year.
Rep. Heo said, “The Michuhol-gu Public Health Center conducted an inspection, but lacked specialists in psychiatric care, making it difficult to take measures beyond issuing corrective orders. A local public health center faces structural limits in handling this alone.”
Along with an on-site inspection of Won Hospital, the Ministry of Health and Welfare plans to overhaul the human rights protection system across psychiatric institutions.
First, following a recommendation by the National Human Rights Commission of Korea, the ministry plans to inform psychiatric institutions nationwide of standards for protecting patients’ human rights in matters such as seclusion and restraint, and incorporate them into the “Mental Health Program Guide.”
The ministry also plans to inform psychiatric institutions nationwide of standards for protecting patients’ human rights in matters such as seclusion and restraint, and have local public health centers, through city and provincial governments, continuously check whether psychiatric institutions comply with facility and staffing standards and with laws and guidelines related to seclusion and restraint.
It also decided to improve the assessment system so that actual levels of patient safety and human rights protection are more fully reflected in the Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service’s assessment of the appropriateness of health insurance benefits.
Rep. Heo said, “Under the current system, it is difficult to take measures beyond corrective orders. The Ministry of Health and Welfare joining efforts to improve the system is a meaningful first step. The hospitalization conditions at psychiatric institutions nationwide must be closely inspected to ensure patients are not left in a blind spot when it comes to human rights.”
Earlier, on the 6th, the National Human Rights Commission determined that Won Hospital’s practice of having nursing assistants and care workers isolate and restrain patients without medical staff present every day from 10 p.m. to 7 a.m. the following day amounted to unlicensed medical practice, and filed a complaint against the hospital director with the Serious Crimes Investigation Agency on suspicion of occupational negligence resulting in death and other offenses.
The same day, the Incheon Metropolitan Police Agency’s Metropolitan Crime Investigation Unit also conducted a search and seizure at the hospital, securing evidence including medical records.
[email protected] An Gaeul Reporter