"Nursing Hospital Stores Severed Patient's Toe in Porridge Container in Refrigerator, Citing 'No Suitable Container Available'"

Stored alongside ssamjang and beverages for two weeks
Family notified of necrosis only after significant delay
In Incheon, amputated leg disposed of as recycling waste
Ministry of Health and Welfare requests administrative investigation into nursing hospital

A nursing hospital in Seoul was found to have stored a patient's severed toe in a disposable porridge container inside a shared refrigerator that also contained food for two weeks. Following the incident in June where a patient’s amputated leg from a nursing hospital in Incheon ended up at a recycling facility, another similar case has emerged, bringing renewed scrutiny to the medical waste management systems at nursing hospitals.

About two weeks later, Mr. A visited the hospital and found food items such as ssamjang with patients' names and beverages inside the shared refrigerator. At the bottom of the refrigerator, there were disposable porridge containers, one of which contained his father's toes. KBS

On the 18th, KBS reported that a nursing hospital in Seoul had sparked controversy by storing a patient’s amputated toe in a disposable porridge container inside a shared refrigerator. Previously, a male patient in his 60s with an intellectual disability had been living at the same hospital for ten years. Mr. A, the patient's child, learned belatedly in March that his father's toe had been amputated. The hospital stated that the patient had fallen while moving in a wheelchair to take a bath, during which an already necrotic toe became detached as a result of the fall.

However, records in the nursing log indicate the diagnosis of a ‘foot ulcer’ had already been documented as early as December of the previous year. Mr. A claims that it was only in early March that he first learned about the seriousness of his father's foot condition, and that he only discovered the details of how the toe had fallen off after checking the nursing log. An even greater issue was the method used to store the severed toe.

About two weeks later, Mr. A visited the hospital and found the shared refrigerator containing food items such as ssamjang labeled with patients' names and beverages. At the bottom of the refrigerator, disposable porridge containers were placed, and inside one of them, his father's toe was being stored. When Mr. A protested the storage method, a hospital representative reportedly responded by asking, "Then where should we keep it?" and explained that as a nursing hospital, there was no proper container available for a toe.

The hospital explained that the incident occurred when the attending nurse was forced to store the toe quickly due to the unexpected situation, but said that subsequent disposal of the medical waste was carried out appropriately. However, according to current waste management law, human tissues, organs, body parts, or partial remains are classified as "tissue medical waste," a type of hazardous medical waste. From the moment of occurrence, such waste must be placed in a designated container and stored separately from other items in specialized refrigerated facilities at temperatures of 4 degrees Celsius or below.

With the exception of teeth, the maximum storage period for tissue medical waste is 15 days. While the storage duration in this case may not have exceeded this limit, using a disposable food container and storing the severed toe together with food in a shared refrigerator constitutes a separate violation of the relevant regulations. Whether this also violates the Food Sanitation Act is expected to be addressed through an administrative investigation.

In addition to concerns about medical waste storage, questions are being raised about when the patient’s foot ulcer began and how far it had advanced, whether the hospital notified the family about the patient’s condition in a timely manner, and whether necessary treatment and monitoring for necrosis were provided during the progress of the condition. The Ministry of Health and Welfare announced that, due to growing controversy, it will request the local government to conduct an administrative investigation into the nursing hospital involved. Depending on the results, it is expected that both compliance with medical waste management regulations and the hospital’s overall patient care practices will be reviewed.

The police received a report from the National Forensic Service that a human leg found at a recycling facility in Incheon matches the DNA of a patient hospitalized at a nursing hospital. The photo shows the nursing hospital in Jung-gu, Incheon, where the patient has been admitted, on the afternoon of the 18th. Photo by Yonhap News Agency

A similar incident occurred just two months prior. In June, at a recycling facility in Songdo, Incheon, the amputated leg of an octogenarian nursing hospital patient in a state of necrosis was discovered. Police investigations found that the hospital failed to place the amputated leg in a dedicated medical tissue waste container and also violated the requirement to store such items at or below 4 degrees Celsius in specialized refrigerated facilities. Later, a cleaning volunteer mistook the bandaged leg for plaster and disposed of it in a recycling bag.

On the 3rd, Incheon Yeonsu Police Station referred three individuals—a head nurse, a nursing assistant, and a volunteer worker—as well as the medical corporation involved, to prosecutors for violating the Waste Control Act.

In 2010, a similar case occurred in Daegu when a patient's amputated body part was found in a box on a roadside, leading to the indictment of the surgeon, hospital director, and the person responsible for waste disposal. In 2023, when the city of Busan inspected 80 mid- to large-sized veterinary hospitals, 10 were found in violation of medical waste disposal standards. Some hospitals were discovered to have stored tissue medical waste in general refrigerators along with foods such as snacks.

Meanwhile, data submitted by the Ministry of Environment to the National Assembly shows that from 2020 through February 2023, a total of 18 general hospitals were found to have violated medical waste management regulations. In addition to general hospitals, 108 other medical waste-emitting establishments were also found in violation. Offenses included exceeding storage periods or keeping waste that should have been refrigerated at room temperature.

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