Paramedic scolded a patient for delaying ambulance with a shower. Here's what happened next.

(Yonhap)

A court on Wednesday overturned a reprimand issued to an Incheon firefighter paramedic for being “impolite” to a patient who kept an ambulance waiting to take a shower.

The Incheon District Court ruled in favor of the firefighter, citing procedural irregularities in the disciplinary process. The court found that the employer had not given adequate notice or allowed the firefighter a proper opportunity to present his case.

"Given the procedural irregularities, we are overturning the warning (given to the firefighter),” the court said, adding that the decision does not address the appropriateness of the disposition.

The firefighter, who was employed by the Incheon Fire Department in Incheon Metropolitan City when the incident occurred, faced accusations of disrespect after a patient called the fire station for emergency medical assistance seeking help for a fever.

The patient, who had recently arrived in Korea for cancer treatment, placed the call at 7 a.m. on Aug. 7, requesting an ambulance and asking if they could take a shower first. The officer who answered agreed to schedule the dispatch of the ambulance to give the patient time -- 30 minutes -- for the shower.

However, the ambulance arrived eight minutes ahead of schedule and the crew waited six minutes for the patient.

The patient filed a complaint later about a paramedic who impolitely remarked, "You can't make an ambulance wait like this." This led to the officer receiving a warning on Aug. 28.

While the warning did not entail disciplinary actions such as dismissal, demotion, suspension, or pay cuts, it could have impacted the firefighter's performance reviews, station assignments, or bonuses.

When the news spread, fellow firefighters rallied behind the accused officer.

The firefighter also contested the warning with the HR department, and after its rejection, filed a lawsuit against the mayor of Incheon, who had the authority to overturn the reprimand.

The Incheon Fire Department announced Wednesday that it chose not to appeal the ruling, noting that the firefighter had already transferred to another fire department in a different city in February.

"While the procedure was flawed, the warning itself did not present issues," the Incheon Fire Department added.

By Song Seung-hyun(ssh@heraldcorp.com)