After a patient died at a clinic in Incheon after getting an IV injection last year, the health authorities have found bacteria in the clinic matched those in the blood of the deceased in an epidemiological investigation.

Police have booked the medical staffs who treated the patient for allegedly neglecting hygiene of medical devices and the clinic which led to the death of the patient.

Incheon’s Nonhyeon Police Station said on Thursday that they booked a physician and two nursing assistants for involuntary manslaughter without detention.

The doctor is accused of administering an IV fluid, known as “garlic injection” to boost energy, to two women at the clinic in Namdong-gu, Incheon, on Sept. 3 last year, causing one to die and the other to be injured.

The deceased received the injection, showed symptoms of sepsis, was taken to a general hospital but died in four days. The other patient showed the same symptoms and received intensive care at a general hospital.

The bacterial sepsis was suspected in the two patients, and Serratia marcescens were detected in their blood cultures.

The Incheon Metropolitan City and the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC) conducted an epidemiological study and detected Serratia marcescens on the shelves where the injections were stored, in the dispenser deck where the fluid was mixed, and in the refrigerator.

Police said the accident occurred because the medical staffs did not manage the hygiene of the medical devices properly. A police officer said they planned to seek an arrest warrant for the three, as soon as they receive the result of the health authorities’ probe.

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