Prosecutors have asked police to reinvestigate the death of a woman who was reportedly given the wrong blood type at a Seoul university hospital emergency room. According to Maeil Shinmun, the patient had type O blood but received type A blood after an apparent mix-up during the initial blood-testing process.
Police had previously closed the case without referring medical staff for prosecution on professional-negligence charges. The Seoul Northern District Prosecutors' Office reviewed the file and requested a new investigation, meaning police will now reexamine how the sample error occurred and whether it contributed to the patient's death.
The renewed inquiry centers on the testing chain
The reported error is significant because incompatible transfusions can cause severe immune reactions. Investigators are expected to focus on how another patient's blood sample may have been sent to the laboratory and whether hospital identification and verification procedures were followed before the transfusion was administered.
The reinvestigation does not itself establish criminal responsibility. It does, however, reopen scrutiny of the hospital's testing and transfusion safeguards and could clarify whether the incident resulted from an individual mistake, a systems failure or both.