A caregiver who was put on trial for giving a dementia patient a lump of peaches to kill them has been commuted on appeal.
Today (22nd), the 3rd part of the Daejeon District Court's Criminal Court (Chief Judge Moon Bo-kyung) sentenced a 65-year-old man accused of manslaughter and negligence to four months in prison and four months in prison and one year of probation. said.
On June 30, 2019, while working at a nursing hospital in Dangjin, Chungcheongnam-do, Mr. A did not chop the peaches provided as a snack to Mr. B (77), who was suffering from dementia and dysphagia (a symptom of difficulty swallowing food). He was charged with suffocating B by negligence in his duty of care, such as not checking to the end that Mr. B completely swallowed it.
At that time, Mr. B caught a peach and was taken to the hospital for treatment, but 10 days later he died of aspiration pneumonia, which caused food to enter the airway and suffocate.
The first trial court said, "I knew that the victim was old and suffering from dementia and only ate porridge or ground food," said the first trial court. “No,” and he was sentenced to four months in prison.
However, Mr. A appealed that the sentence of the lower court was too heavy, and the court of appeals accepted Mr. A's argument.
The court of appeals said, "The defendant is deeply reflecting, and we cannot fully attribute all responsibility for the victim's death to the defendant."