The National Human Rights Commission of Korea (Chairperson Ahn Chang-ho, hereafter ‘the Commission’) on December 22 last year recommended, in connection with an incident at a psychiatric medical institution where a nurse implemented or extended seclusion without orders from a specialist, that the director of ○○○○ Hospital (hereafter the respondent hospital) discipline two nurses (hereafter the respondents), conduct staff job training related to seclusion·restraint, and prepare measures to prevent recurrence. It also recommended that the head of the competent public health center provide guidance and supervision of the hospital and disseminate the case.

In response, on the morning of the 14th, in front of the Bucheon Branch of the Incheon District Prosecutors Office, the Korean Alliance of Persons with Psychiatric Disabilities held a protest. They held a press conference titled ‘Call for Severe Punishment of Those Responsible for the Wjin Hospital Seclusion·Restraint Death Case’, and, linking it to the earlier case of a woman in her thirties who died after seclusion·restraint, condemned the successive incidents of restraint. Lawmaker Kim Yun of the Democratic Party of Korea and lawmaker Kim Ye-ji of the People Power Party attended.

They filed a petition stating, “The complainant is a minor”, and “During a little over a month of hospitalization at the respondent hospital last August, the complainant was subjected to unjust and excessive seclusion·restraint”.

The respondents replied, “Due to concerns about self-harm, the complainant was placed in seclusion in a protective room. When the condition stabilized, we intended to return the complainant to the ward, but the complainant had fallen asleep and was not awakened; the complainant was sent to the ward once the complainant woke up on their own, that was all”.

However, the Commission investigation confirmed that ▷ a nurse, acting on their own judgment, placed the complainant in seclusion without an order from a specialist, ▷ despite the absence of any separate order from a specialist, the seclusion was extended, and ▷ after implementing seclusion, the matter was reported to a specialist only after the fact.

Accordingly, the Commission Committee for the Remedy of Disability Discrimination (Subcommittee Chair Lee Sook-jin) held that this was “ a violation of Article 75 of the Act on the Improvement of Mental Health and the Support for Welfare Services for Mental Illness and the Enforcement Rules of the same Act”, and determined that the respondents infringed the constitutional right to personal liberty.

It further viewed that the hospital director also bore responsibility for neglecting due care and supervision, in that a specialist signed the seclusion·restraint record sheet after the fact and, despite recognizing the above facts, did not determine the circumstances or hold anyone to account. Therefore, the Commission decided as above, judging that measures to investigate and correct such practices were also necessary.