Toddler dies 11 days after cardiac arrest during eye surgery anesthesia in Ulsan

A 27-month-old girl who suffered cardiac arrest while being put under anesthesia before eye surgery at a clinic in Ulsan has died, 11 days after the incident.

According to the Ulsan Jungbu Police Station, the girl, identified only as A, died Tuesday afternoon after receiving hospital treatment since the accident earlier this month.

A suffered cardiac arrest on Oct. 2 while undergoing general anesthesia at an ophthalmology clinic in Jung-gu, Ulsan, for a procedure to treat entropion — a condition in which the eyelashes turn inward and irritate the cornea. Emergency treatment at a nearby hospital restored her heartbeat, but she never regained consciousness and was transferred to a university hospital in another region for further treatment.

The clinic said at the time that the anesthetic dosage was not at fault, but that an inadequate supply of oxygen during the anesthesia process appeared to have caused the accident. A hospital official said the anesthesiologist in charge had acknowledged the mistake and had met with the patient's guardians to explain the cause.

One likely cause under consideration is that the breathing circuit of the anesthesia equipment was connected incorrectly. The freelance anesthesiologist who administered the anesthesia reportedly told the family several days after the accident that, upon inspecting the equipment, he found the two circuits — through which air flows in and out — appeared to have been connected in reverse.

Following A's death, police upgraded the charges against three individuals — the clinic director, the anesthesiologist and the surgeon — from professional negligence causing bodily harm to professional negligence causing death.

Police conducted an autopsy Thursday to determine the exact cause of death. They have also carried out a search and seizure at the clinic to secure evidence related to the surgery and have questioned some of the nursing staff on duty at the time of the accident. Investigators are also coordinating a schedule for the anesthesiologist to appear for questioning.

Police said they plan to determine the state of the circuit connections at the time of the accident and whether the medical staff were negligent, based on witness statements, autopsy results and assessments by specialist institutions.

Investigators are also looking into why the closed-circuit television camera inside the operating room failed to record. Police said they will seek expert advice on when the obligation to record takes effect before deciding whether to pursue charges of violating the Medical Service Act.

A's mother recently posted news of her daughter's death on SNS, urging authorities to get to the truth. "What I want to know is whether this was a preventable accident, and if it was, why it was not prevented," she said.

bbo@heraldcorp.com