Hospital waste suspected in severed leg discovery

A severed human leg discovered at a recycling sorting facility in Incheon may have been medical waste improperly discarded by a long-term care hospital, police said Thursday.

The Incheon Yeonsu Police Station said the body part found at the resource recovery center was likely from a patient currently undergoing treatment at a hospital. Investigators have requested an expedited DNA analysis from the National Forensic Service.

According to police, a hospital official recently came forward and reported that the body part was believed to have originated from the facility. The hospital reportedly told investigators that the limb was likely the left leg of a woman in her 80s who remains hospitalized after undergoing an amputation.

There has also been speculation that a sanitation worker employed by a recycling contractor may have mistaken the severed leg for a mannequin part or ordinary refuse and collected it with recyclable materials. Police declined to comment on that possibility.

Investigators are awaiting the DNA test results, which could be available as early as later Thursday. If the analysis confirms a match with the hospital patient, police plan to obtain the hospital's CCTV footage and question staff to determine exactly how the limb was discarded and subsequently collected.

Under South Korea's Waste Control Act, human tissue, organs and body parts are classified as pathological medical waste. Such materials must be stored and transported separately from other waste streams and kept in sealed, designated containers to prevent leakage or exposure.

Police suspect the incident may have stemmed from a failure to comply with those handling requirements. Investigators will also examine whether the hospital violated regulations governing the disposal and management of medical waste.

"The hospital reported the disposal of medical waste only after media reports revealed that a severed leg had been found at a recycling facility," a police official said. "We will examine the patient's treatment process, the hospital's waste-disposal procedures and the route by which the body part reached the sorting center before determining whether any laws were violated."

The case began on June 10, when workers at the Southern Regional Resource Recovery Center in Songdo-dong, Yeonsu District, discovered what appeared to be a human leg measuring about 41 centimeters below the knee.

A facility employee alerted police after finding the bandaged limb during a routine recycling-sorting operation.

Investigators initially considered the possibility that the body part belonged to a child, citing the foot's length of roughly 21 centimeters. However, after conducting a detailed examination, the National Forensic Service informed police that the limb was believed to belong to an adult standing approximately 161 to 165 centimeters tall.

Police have since been tracing the route by which the body part entered the facility, reviewing dashboard camera footage and vehicle logs from all 34 vehicles that entered or exited the resource recovery center on the day it was discovered.


Kum-Chun Hwang kchwang@donga.com