Death of premature twin after mother rejected from hospital highlights health care shortages

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Death of premature twin after mother rejected from hospital highlights health care shortages

Published: 08 Apr. 2026, 13:44 Updated: 08 Apr. 2026, 18:48

Audio report: written by reporters, read by AI

The entrance of an emergency room at a hospital in Daegu on Feb. 21, 2024. [YONHAP]

DAEGU — A twin born prematurely to a 28-week pregnant American woman died after she struggled for hours to find a hospital in Daegu that could deliver her children earlier this year.

She eventually gave birth more than 175 miles away in Seongnam, Gyeonggi, but it was too late for one of the babies. The other twin remains in critical condition.

According to Daegu officials and emergency authorities on Tuesday, the woman began experiencing abdominal pain at around 10:16 p.m. on Feb. 28 while staying at a hotel in the southeastern city to visit her husband’s critically ill grandmother in nearby North Gyeongsang.

Her husband, a dual Korean-U.S. citizen stationed at the U.S. military base in Pyeongtaek, Gyeonggi, contacted a local obstetrics clinic.

However, the clinic declined to treat her, citing her lack of prior medical records and the high-risk nature of her pregnancy. The woman was carrying twins and had previously undergone a cervical cerclage procedure to prevent premature birth. The clinic advised the couple to seek care at a university hospital.

As her condition worsened, her husband reported to emergency services via the U.S. military in Daegu that his wife had been in pain and waiting in a wheelchair for four hours.

An ambulance arrived within eight minutes, but paramedics were unable to find a hospital that would accept her. Seven major hospitals in Daegu refused, citing a lack of obstetric specialists or insufficient neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) capacity.

After waiting for about an hour without success, the husband informed paramedics at 2:44 a.m. that he would drive his wife to Seoul National University Bundang Hospital, where she had previously received care.

Beds for patients are lined up along a corridor inside a hospital in Daegu on May 15, 2024. [YONHAP]

Daegu authorities coordinated with their Seoul counterparts to confirm that the hospital could accept her. A helicopter transfer was not feasible due to nighttime conditions and concerns that changes in air pressure could affect the woman’s surgical site, officials said.

Although family members requested emergency support from authorities in North Gyeongsang and North Chungcheong provinces along the husband’s route, no hospitals in those regions were able to accept the patient.

The woman was eventually transferred to an ambulance in Eumseong, North Chungcheong, and arrived at the Bundang hospital at 5:35 a.m. on March 1, where she underwent an emergency cesarean section.

One of the twins died shortly after birth due to hypoxia, while the other suffered brain damage and is still being treated.

The parents are now preparing to file a lawsuit against the Korean government.

Although emergency dispatch centers in Daegu have designated receiving hospitals for critically ill patients since August 2023, the case fell outside this system because the patient required a facility with specialized staff and NICU capacity to treat extremely premature twins, local officials said.

A man heads inside a hospital in Daegu on Feb. 12. [NEWS1]

City officials said they plan to expand NICU capacity at regional maternal and child health centers. Currently, five hospitals in Daegu operate a total of 145 NICU beds.

Additional beds have recently been added at Daegu Catholic University Medical Center and Kyungpook National University Chilgok Hospital, with further expansion planned at Keimyung University Dongsan Medical Center.

Acting Daegu Mayor Kim Jeong-gi is due to hold a meeting with hospital directors this week to discuss measures to prevent similar cases, officials said.

A city official partially attributed the shortage of maternity beds to an ongoing standoff between the government and the medical community, noting that many medical residents have not returned to work.

Essential fields such as pediatrics and obstetrics remain particularly understaffed across the southeast, the official said.

“The shortages do not affect just Daegu. Nearby regions, including North Gyeongsang, Gwangju, Busan and South Gyeongsang, rely on maternal care centers in Daegu,” the official said. “We will work with the Ministry of Health and Welfare to come up with measures to prevent a recurrence.”

This article was originally written in Korean and translated by a bilingual reporter with the help of generative AI tools. It was then edited by a native English-speaking editor. All AI-assisted translations are reviewed and refined by our newsroom.
BY BAEK KYUNG-SEO [[email protected]]