After receiving a referral from orthopedics stating that walking was impossible and being transported by a 119 ambulance, the person who claimed to be an emergency medicine specialist spoke in a sneering tone: “Do you want to be admitted? You seemed to walk just fine.” After hearing that, I can only recommend this place to people with plenty of money who can pay 280,000 won for same-day treatment. Even the nurses seemed influenced by the same attitude; it felt like they wanted to spend the day without any patients. This is a place that makes patients give up and go home on their own.
My mother suddenly collapsed on the street due to sharp pain in the pit of her stomach, and at a nearby orthopedic clinic she was diagnosed as being unable to walk. She was transported by a 119 ambulance to the Bumin Hospital emergency room.
After a CT scan in the ER, we tried to proceed with admission for additional tests, but we developed serious doubts about the staff’s attitude and how they responded.
1. Problems with the medical staff’s attitude toward patients
My mother was in such severe pain that it was difficult for her to move at all. Yet even though there was only one patient in the ER at the time, the staff (about five people, including an emergency physician and nurses) stood by instead of helping. They did not even support her when she struggled to sit up, and they offered no proactive assistance when no guardian was present.
2. Inappropriate remarks by the emergency medicine specialist
When I, the guardian, arrived late and tried to proceed with admission, the attending doctor said, “Do you want to be admitted?” I replied, “Not because we want to, but because she may not even be able to move,” but the doctor responded, “When I saw her moving, she was walking just fine.” This is an irresponsible statement based on outward appearance without considering the patient’s condition, and it can only come across as minimizing and dismissive of the patient’s pain.
3. Problems with the hospital’s patient management and emergency system
If this is how they respond even when there are hardly any patients, one wonders what it is like when they are busier. The ER is a place where urgent treatment and protection should be provided, yet the atmosphere and responses made it seem like patients were a nuisance. Despite seeing the note from the previous clinic stating “unable to walk,” the nurses still left the patient to move on her own. This shows the staff did not sufficiently take the patient’s condition into account.
All of this can be verified through the hospital’s CCTV from that time period. I ask the hospital director and those responsible to review the CCTV themselves and assess whether the staff’s responses were appropriate.
As someone who runs a business myself, I know well how it feels when customers (patients) are disappointed by employees’ attitudes and service. Medical care is not just about face-to-face interaction; its core is minimizing the patient’s suffering and providing appropriate treatment. However, this experience looks like nothing more than a case of treating the patient’s condition lightly and responding without a sense of responsibility.
I hope the hospital director and relevant personnel recognize this incident and reflect on how Bumin Hospital treats its patients.