▲ A public recycling facility in Incheon
A human leg belonging to an elderly patient in his 80s, which was discovered at a public recycling facility in Incheon, has been confirmed to have been mistakenly discarded by a nursing home volunteer.
According to the Incheon Yeonsu Police Station on Friday (June 19), it was determined that a nursing home in Jung-gu, Incheon, had properly placed the leg of an 80-year-old patient, identified as A, into a designated medical waste container after an amputation surgery on June 8.
The investigation revealed that the following day, a 60-year-old male volunteer at the nursing home, identified as B, was cleaning the trash area and mistook the leg inside the medical waste container for a discarded plaster cast. He then placed it into a recycling bag and disposed of it.
The leg was discovered on June 10 at approximately 2:30 p.m. by a worker at the Southern Metropolitan Living Resource Recovery Center in Songdo-dong, Yeonsu-gu, Incheon, who was sorting through recyclables and subsequently reported it to the police.
Police had been investigating various possibilities to identify the owner of the leg, but the case was resolved on June 17 when the nursing home voluntarily reported the incident.
The head of the nursing department at the facility realized after watching the news on the afternoon of June 17 that the leg belonged to patient A, who had undergone an amputation at their hospital. They then verified the incident through CCTV footage and statements from hospital staff.
Following this, the hospital's administrative director reported the matter to the police.
Police collected DNA samples from patient A and requested an emergency analysis from the National Forensic Service, which verbally confirmed that the DNA matched that of the discovered leg.
The police are currently investigating the hospital's medical waste management practices and whether any medical laws were violated, such as illegal surgical procedures.
Under the current Wastes Control Act, medical waste containing human tissue must be placed in designated containers and strictly separated from other waste during collection and transport.
Violations of this law can result in up to two years in prison or a fine of up to 20 million won.
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.