Not guilty in the first trial on the charge of manslaughter due to occupational negligence → guilty in the second trial... Probation of imprisonment confirmed

Not guilty in the first trial on the charge of manslaughter due to occupational negligence → guilty in the second trial... Probation of imprisonment confirmed

(Seoul = Yonhap News) Reporter Lee Mi-ryeong = The director of a nursing home facility was found guilty of negligence in management and supervision in connection with an incident in which a nursing care worker caused a patient in his 90s to fall off the bed while trying to get him up, causing the patient to die from aftereffects.

According to the legal community on the 4th, the first division of the Supreme Court (Chief Justice May Yong-ju) recently confirmed the lower court sentence that sentenced Mr. A, the director of a nursing home in Jung-gu, Incheon, to six months in prison and one year of probation on charges of professional negligence manslaughter.

The accident occurred in June 2023 while care worker B was moving patient C, a patient in his 90s with limited mobility, to take a bath.

Mr. B did not follow the guidelines for moving in groups of two, but instead tried to raise Mr. C by himself, causing the patient to slip down the bed. Mr. C suffered a fractured femur and died a few days later from embolism, a side effect of the fracture.

The prosecution brought Mr. A to trial along with Mr. B, claiming that the facility manager, Mr. A, did not have a practical management and supervision system for fall prevention and did not take immediate emergency transport measures even after receiving the report on the day of the accident.

The first trial found Mr. A not guilty. It is difficult to determine his negligence in management and supervision, and he did not acknowledge the causal relationship between negligence and death, saying that even if the transfer had taken place on the day of the accident, the result would have been the same due to refusal of surgery.

However, the second trial found him guilty and sentenced him to six months in prison and one year of probation.

The second trial court ruled, "We did not implement a practical management and supervision system to ensure that patients at high risk for falls were moved in groups of two, and we acknowledge negligence in violating emergency guidelines after the accident. The circumstances in which the victim decided not to undergo surgery are only a factor in mitigating the defendant's responsibility, and we cannot deny the significant causal relationship between negligence and death."

Mr. A appealed, but the Supreme Court found no error in this judgment and dismissed the appeal.

Nursing care worker B was sentenced to one year in prison and two years probation in the first trial and did not appeal, so the sentence was confirmed.