Posted on 05/23/2008 4:22:16 AM PDT by hereandnow78
By Bae Ji-sook Staff Reporter
A 14-year-old American boy died this week in a sauna in Gyeongsan, North Gyeongsang Province, on the outskirts of Daegu, however police are seemingly unable to pinpoint the cause of his death.
The tragedy took place last Sunday, when Stephanie White, her son Michael and two of her friends went to a jjimjilbang (Korean style sauna). Her son went into the male bathing room, while White and her friends went to the ladies section. Some considerable time later, sauna staff called the mother to check on her son who was in a critical condition.
When she arrived at the scene, her son had collapsed and emergency staff were placing him into an ambulance. However, they apparently reported Michael as dead, though this was not the case. On arrival at the hospital medical staff saw this and tried to resuscitate him through cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR), but despite their efforts he died a few minutes later.
Michael had allegedly been coughing and dry retching; without anyone inside the sauna offering assistance; for a long time and that could have been a contributory factor in his death, doctors said initially. However, an autopsy showed that the cause of death was drowning.
Stephanie White said quick treatment could have saved her son.
She also criticized the sauna for having poor emergency measures and trying to cover up the incident; the hospital for being slow to drain Michaels' lungs of fluid; and the police for not conducting a thorough investigation and reporting the results to her.
The police apparently did not question the sauna owner, while staff there kept calling her up about the details and tried to cover up the story, she said.
White also said that her son was not dead in the sauna; as alleged by the emergency response staff & in view of the fact that doctors tried save him at the hospital. She added that she is a certified and trained lifesaver and could have saved her son if she had been notified in time; nobody offered Michael assistance for about an hour after he apparently started having respiratory problems.
Friends and colleagues plan to hold a vigil in front of the United States Embassy in downtown Seoul Friday and have started a fundraising campaign to finance legal fees. White may file a lawsuit against the sauna and responsible parties. Some have pointed to the Korean people's indifference as the cause of the tragedy. White lamented that its was really hard to understand why no one seemed to care about a young boy who was obviously having problems; coughing hard for a long time; and who then collapsed.
Blogger Mike McStay said, ``What do you call it when a room full of men/boys doing their family bathing before the Buddha holiday just turn their backs on someone who's coughing and retching so bad that there's extensive damage to his throat, lungs and back of the mouth.''
bjs@koreatimes.co.kr
Source: The Korea Times; May 16th, 2008; http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/nation/2008/05/117_24296.html
http://www.mightiemike.com
http://www.seoulpodcast.com/archives/68
www.mikewhitesmom.blogspot.com
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=14329648313
The report said he drowned. Does the term “sauna” mean something different in Korea? Was he swimming? When I think of a sauna, I can’t imagine how you could die of drowning.
What sort of ‘drowning’ is this? Excessive inhalation of steam?
Actually, the sauna’s are not very deep at all. Plus, there is no indication that he slipped and fell or anything like that. Its been reported by his mother that he had no health problems that would cause him to pass out either.
As far as I know, only a few Americans have died here in recent years but the 3 latest ones are very mysterious. If you click here, http://www.mightiemike.com/ , there are other stories. The story of Jamie Penich is particularly disturbing. Whats most disturbing of all is the shoddy police work.
American death in Korea ping
The family would be litigating this to death here. How is the judicial system in S. Korea in that regard?
If he stayed too long in the hot water it causes two things to happen, both can cause convulsions.
One is dehydration and the other is elevated body tempeture.
The body will reach the smae tempture as the water, so 105 is not unheard of.
Once convulstions happen he drowns.
I posted the link earlier but here is the link again:
http://www.mikewhitesmom.blogspot.com/
Here is a partial from the podcast interview:
Interviewer - And now, a special Seoul Podcast.
Welcome to a special edition of the Seoul Podcast.
We are breaking away from our usual format because we felt this is a special incident that needs singular attention. On Saturday May 10th Michael White and his mother Stephanie were with friends spending a day in a sauna near Daegu. Michael was the only man in the group so he had to bathe separately from the others. A good while later Stephanie was told by the sauna staff that he had to go to the hospital – she had to go. What she saw next was any mother’s nightmare. Michael was in an ambulance, unconscious. He was found floating in one of the pools, and he died shortly thereafter.
Big suspicious questions have surrounded his death, like: why did staff wait almost an hour to notify Michael’s mother that there was trouble? Why did they call the hospital and say that he was already dead, when he wasn’t? And why, in an active bathing room before a major holiday did no-one help him?
Tonight we have Michael’s mother Stephanie White. Thank you for joining us.
Mother - Thank you for having me.
Interviewer - This has to be so difficult.
Mother - Actually the hardest part is over, because the worst thing that could have ever happened to me has already happened. So, you know, it’s not as bad as it was a week or so ago.
Interviewer #2 - But I think the specifics of the situation or the way things happen in Korea compounded the situation; or that’s my opinion.
Mother - Ah, definitely there are some huge differences in how things are handled in an emergency situation. I can definitely agree with that.
I did get some more information from the police yesterday. I can fill out that timeline a little bit more.
One of the newspapers said – I can’t remember which one – that a staff worker saw him but thought that he was bathing, and what part of floating face down resembles ‘bathing’ I don’t know. But they left him alone and came back later and saw that he was still in that condition and that is the point at which they decided to help him. So as near as I can piece together from the crumbs of information the police will give me, the staff worker saw him at 11.02. Eighteen minutes later, at 11.20, is when the staff member saw him again and attempted to pull him from the water and resuscitate him on his own.
Now we don’t have absolute confirmation that anyone at the sauna was attempting to resuscitate him but that is the impression I was left with by the police. Now whether that was… I don’t know what to make of that situation.
Interviewer - How crowded was it that day?
Mother - It was very crowded. In the women’s side… My friend and I, we are both adults and her daughter (eleven Korean age) were foreigners so we stand out quite a bit, and (we) live in a fish-bowl, so, we enjoy going to the sauna for the relaxation in the salt pools, but at the same time we know everyone in there is watching us. We prefer to kind-of-like scrub down by ourselves, and it was impossible to find a shallow row that was unoccupied by Korean customers.
Interviewer - That’s really crowded.
Interviewer #2 My question was - because I know you don’t live in a city – how many white people were there? How difficult it would have been to find the white mother of the white boy?
Mother - There were two white women…
Interviewer #2 - You and your friend?
Mother - Yeah.
Interviewer #2 - Just you two?
Mother - Just us two and her daughter. Her daughter is not necessarily white, but she is foreign, and so two foreign women and a foreign child…
And my son he’s 6 foot tall.
Interviewer - He looks really big.
Mother - Yeah. Even back home he towered over all his peer group. So he’s always just been the gentle giant. He’s never been, you know, a fighter in any sense of the word. He couldn’t even do Taekwondo. I mean he could do it but he just didn’t get into the sparring part of things. He didn’t like that part. And so he dropped out of Taekwondo because he didn’t like to have to do the sparring part. So he’s really just a gentle person. He’s just big.
Interviewer - He certainly would have stood out in that crowd because of his height.
Mother - Yes and he’s very pale. He’s not tanned. I don’t tan very easily. He does have black hair, which, you know, can help him blend in a little bit but not as much as myself and my friend who are both sandy blonde.
Interviewer - I assume he had no health problems previously.
Mother - Not diabetic, no health problems. I’m in the process of getting his medical records from his birth hospital now. There’s just so much red tape everywhere because I’m not in the country to request the medical records myself. Having to sign proxies, send it to a friend, it’s just a big mess. I have a congenital heart defect. And so, because of my heart defect, when Michael was born, they did an ultra-sound and he has no congenital heart defect, he’s had no heart problems throughout his life. His only medical problem is to be allergic to bee stings for which I became epinephrine certified in case I ever had to give him a shot for anaphylactic shock.
Interviewer - Right. Now this is what I found a little screwy that the police can’t do investigations looking for evidence. Am I right there?
Mother - I don’t know about looking for evidence but what they told me is, on two separate occasions, this was last Tuesday after Mike’s autopsy, I went into the police station to give my official statement. Because at the hospital they did want to take my statement but I was in no condition to talk to anyone. It took me a couple of days before I was even able to speak.
But anyway, back to the subject. So last Tuesday and yesterday morning, on those occasions they told me that they are not allowed to go out and just do these mass, you know, searches for witnesses. They didn’t say anything about evidence. They said they weren’t allowed to question witnesses. The witnesses had to come in voluntarily to provide information.
I admit I don’t know much about the judicial system here but for a foreigner to proceed with litigation here would seem laughable by most people’s standards. I could be wrong...
On a personal level, and I don’t want to generalize, but I have to say that it seems foreigners here are seen more as a nuisance to be dealt with. It just seems so many things get swept under the rug and Koreans don’t like to admit to things that may make their culture seem less than ideal. Maybe its part of the “saving face” that Asian cultures are known for. Again, I don’t want to generalize, but thats my perspective.
A South Korean “sauna” is more than just a steam room. It will have showers for cleaning up, then a dry heat room, a hot soak tub, a cold bath (with an overhead supply), plus other areas for cleaning up. Then you can put on a robe and mingle with the other sex in a common area where other services might be supplied (massages, etc.) It can be a whole day affair.
Thirty years ago I lived in Seoul,
I took a train to Inchan to photo the harbor and when walking along a dirt road to the harbor I passed a guy lying along the side of the road. It was February and cold as hell. I stayed at the harbor about three hours then made ny way back to the train once again passing this guy lying along the side of the road.
I thought he was drunk and passed out and sleeping it off.
Half way back to Seoul it hit me, this guy wasn’t sleeping it off, he was dead.
15,000 folks a day walked this road and not one of them gave a damn enough to get involved. No one called a cop or a ambulance or anything, just let him lay there dead. Not my problem.
I know this is a shot in the dark, but if anyone knows how to get this woman more help, a lawyer, etc., please go to one of the sites I linked above for contact info.
If you read her interview, it sounds like the embassy here has been alot less than helpful. I mean, its completely possible that this was just a horrible accident but it seems pressure is needed to find out what really happened.
Thanks!
Perhaps the steam is not ejected from duct work, but rather comes from large vats of boiling water in the chamber. I have seen this in eastern Russia and in China. If this is the case, there could have been plenty of water in containers sitting around the room. Foul play? Somebody held this kid’s head under for a little while?
Welcome To FRee Republic.
No, you are not generalizing the situation at all. We are nuisances to them, outsiders. I can speak from it personally the first time I went there since I was born, let us just say it did not go so smoothly. I first enter the country, immigration: where were you born, annoyed, I answered Korea, are you Korean, no my Father was American - serving in the Military and my Mother was Japanese, dirty looks exhanged - no words expressed on my side, because I wanted to get out of there. You do not speak Korean, No, passport given back. Trying to catch my flight to Pusan, I do not speak the language, no one to help me, I asked people on line and the counter service people, blank stares, no one would help me. Stroke of luck, one kind, Korean gentleman said: yes this is the flight to Pusan, and the next one is like eight hours later. I thanked him and finally caught my flight. Would I go back there, let me think about it - Korea despite what some say on this forum, is not exactly the most hospitable and kind place for Americans, especially for racial mixed ones like myself. My fellow Freepers look beneath the cover page, Asians have a double meaning what they say to each other and what they say to you and it is not always kind./Just Asking - seoul62........
Do Koreans do “swirlies”?
So the Koreans in the room watch a young American die. They did not help the kid out in any way. I am not surprised in the least. Expectable.
Americans used to call this sort of thing “unchristian” and then the secular fashion became to call such things “barbaric” and now in our yet more unchristian age the word that is used, perhaps, is “inhumane” in the sense of “not nice”.
May I remark that the Good Samaritan story means nothing if Christ is not risen? That “humaneness” rests on Christian morality, and Christian morality is moot unless Christ is truly the Son of God?
The Koreans behaved as people have always behaved. The American kid was not “one of us” and instead was “one of them”. That is how things are.
As far as getting anywhere in finding out what really happened, well, good luck unless you have powerful Korean “friends”.
Well, I half Asian-(Japanese) born there and you are spot on, in your analysis. Still it does not make it right that they just let that boy die like that. It is wrong, wrong, wrong. Kind of goes against the waxing polemics of all things Korean, that a certain freeper always shouts out about all the time./Just Asking and I have street cred on this matter - seoul62........
RIP.
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