Patient dies after 124 hours of duress: human rights watchdog

South Korea's human rights watchdog on Monday filed a complaint to the prosecution against a local mental hospital for allegedly causing the death of a patient by physically restraining him for 124 hours.

A 52-year-old man, known by his surname Lee, died immediately after he was released from a bed to which his limbs had been constrained for five straight days by the hospital officials, the state-run National Human Rights Commission said in a statement.

Admitted to the facility by his family for alcoholic treatment in April last year, Lee refused to receive a medical injection in December and was forced onto a bed at subsequent times to quell such behavior, the watchdog officials said.

The privately-run hospital, located in the city of Goyang slightly north of Seoul, did not release him during the 124 hours of duress, and Lee died of heart failure 20 minutes after his eventual release, the officials said.

"Long hours of immobilization can cause a healthy man like Lee to die as we have already seen in the 'economy-class syndrome,'" Jeong Sang-hoon, a watchdog official said, referring to a life-threatening medical condition in which blood is clotted by long distance air travel.

"There is a medical record that shows Lee specifically asked the medical personnel to release him or ease the tension," Jeong said. However, they still violated "the law that a restrained patient must be released every two hours and be allowed to stretch his body," he added.

The hospital officials admit they kept Lee restrained for the duration but deny his death was related to this treatment, Jeong said.

Seoul, Oct. 16 (Yonhap News)