After gastroscopy went wrong, Singaporean lies in vegetative state in S. Korea, waiting to go home

INCHEON, South Korea (The Straits Times/ANN): Former teacher Tong Ming Yan, a Singaporean, and her South Korean husband Jang Jong-seok were looking forward to moving back to Singapore with their two children in June, after having lived in South Korea for two years.

They had booked their flight and Ms Tong had made arrangements to return to her teaching position at St Gabriel’s Secondary School. The family had already sent ahead half of their belongings.

But their move has been stalled.

Tong, 35, lies in a vegetative state at a South Korean hospital after suffering a cardiac arrest during a gastroscopy.

While she was resuscitated after nearly 20 minutes, she had already suffered irreversible brain damage, according to a medical report seen by The Straits Times.

Tong had signed up for a 350,000 won (S$336) comprehensive health screening at an Incheon hospital that included the gastroscopy – an examination of the upper gastrointestinal tract – and colonoscopy under sedation.

“We discussed and felt that it would be good for Ming Yan to undergo the test before going back to Singapore, for peace of mind,” Mr Jang told ST.

Jang, 37, a civil engineer, is now suing the hospital for medical negligence and seeking damages and compensation for what happened to his wife.

While Tong’s parents want her back in Singapore as soon as possible to be surrounded by family and to receive the stimulus they hope will aid in her recovery, the wait for an independent medical assessment – a standard requirement for medical lawsuits in South Korea – has delayed her return.

After four months in the intensive care unit, Tong was moved to a nursing hospital in August.

She now breathes with the help of a mechanical ventilator and blinks often, but seemingly not in response to anything. Jang says her condition has not improved in the past four months.

Based on documents seen by ST, Incheon’s district court has sent out requests for a medical assessment to three hospitals since Sept 20, but all three have turned down the request. The hospitals are given two weeks to respond and have the right of refusal.

The court sent another letter dated Nov 14 to a fourth hospital.

The lack of progress has caused distress to both Jang and Tong’s family. Jang covers the medical costs, which amount to about S$10,000 a month.

Jang said: “My in-laws have been waiting for two or three months… But in Korea right now, there is a medical crisis – almost medical chaos. There aren’t enough doctors.”

Thousands of doctors in the country have gone on strike for months, protesting against a plan by the government to increase medical school admission quotas.

Giving up the medical assessment would mean giving up on the lawsuit, and that “means the seven months we have spent waiting will have been for nothing”, Jang said.

Kim Jung-min, Jang’s lawyer, told ST the wait for independent medical assessments can take six months to a year. Mr Kim emphasised that there was no delay in the court process and that the court procedure has to be respected.

ST contacted South Korea’s Ministry of Health and Welfare, but they were unable to comment on the case.

Medical lawsuits in South Korea are known to take longer than normal lawsuits. Government data shows that the average duration of a medical dispute case is 25 months, five times longer than the average civil lawsuit.

The success rate for plaintiffs is also lower, at 1.4 per cent, than the average 14.2 per cent for general damages lawsuits, prompting lawmakers in October to call for an expansion in medical dispute mediation services.

Jang said his wife is underweight – she weighs 39kg and is 1.62m-tall – but not known to have any medical issues.

“Both her mother and younger sister are small-built like her and don’t have any health issues. Ming Yan also went through two natural childbirths without issues at all,” Jang said. They have a four-year-old son and a one-year-old daughter.

He said that following the incident, he was told by the hospital in question that his wife’s heart was “too weak”.

The hospital declined to respond when approached by ST.

Dr Charles Johnson, an emergency physician and medical director of medical evacuation company Hope Medflight Asia, told ST that “intravenous sedation carries a risk of respiratory depression”, which means an inability to breathe and hence a drop in oxygen level in the blood.

Such a collapse, he said, could be due to factors such as hypersensitivity or allergy to the sedative, inappropriate dosing, interactions with other medicines or an unknown underlying medical condition. He added that it would be difficult to understand what triggered the events without having all the facts.

Tong’s mother, who wants to be known only as Madam Liew, told ST: “The longer we wait, the longer she will go without proper care and treatment, which we know to be very critical in the initial months of brain damage.”

Tong’s family has approached the Singapore Embassy in Seoul for assistance. The embassy told ST it has been “rendering consular assistance and support to the affected Singaporean and her family in accordance with local laws and procedures”.

“The embassy has contacted the hospitals that have been assigned the responsibility of providing a medical assessment,” it said. “The final outcome of the lawsuit will depend on the judicial process of the Republic of Korea.”

Madam Liew and her husband have moved from a condominium to a more spacious flat with a childcare centre in the void deck, in preparation to accommodate Tong’s hospital bed, Mr Jang and the two children.

She gets upset when she recalls the plans her daughter made but has not been able to see through.

Tong, a huge fan of Korean singer IU and co-founder of a Singaporean fan group, had planned a quick trip back to Singapore for the singer’s concert in April.

She was also planning her baby daughter’s one-year birthday celebration to be held the week after the gastroscopy was scheduled, but it had to be cancelled after the incident.

For Jang, the move to Singapore would also alleviate some of the overwhelming stress he has been under.

He gets only two days off from work every two weeks and spends them shuttling between his home town of Chungju – where his parents are caring for his children – and the Incheon nursing hospital where his wife is receiving care, about a two-hour drive away.

Most nights, he lies in bed unable to sleep, thinking about the past.

“I think about my wife, my kids and my regrets. Why did I tell her to do the test,” said Jang, his eyes turning red.

The couple met through mutual friends in Singapore in 2019, when Jang was working in Singapore.

They got married that year and moved to South Korea in 2022 because o Jang’s work. They were moving back to Singapore as Jang’s company had a new project in the Republic and Tong wanted her children to be educated in her country.

The thought of giving up has never crossed his mind, Jang said.

“My wife and kids came to Korea because of me. I just want all of us to move back to Singapore as we planned. That is Ming Yan’s wish.” – The Straits Times/ANN