Korean woman dies after C-section while on 'maternity tourism' trip to Guam: Report

A woman died after a cesarean section in Guam last year while visiting the U.S. territory on a maternity tourism trip, Korean broadcaster MBC reported Thursday.

A woman surnamed Kim is seen in a hospital in Guam after giving birth via cesarean section in this image taken from Korean broadcaster MBC's report. [SCREEN CAPTURE]

A woman died after a cesarean section in Guam last year while visiting the U.S. territory on a maternity tourism trip, Korean broadcaster MBC reported Thursday.

Maternity tourism, or birth tourism, is an illegal practice of traveling to another country to give birth in that country, usually to obtain citizenship for the child.

According to MBC on Wednesday, a woman surnamed Kim was found dead at a famous resort in Guam in July last year, 12 days after she gave birth at a local hospital.

Kim, who was in the process of immigrating to Guam, traveled to the U.S. territory with her husband through a domestic agency that arranges trips to Guam for maternity tourism a month before giving birth.

After the birth via cesarean section, the husband returned to Korea for work, believing that a postpartum helper hired by the agency would take care of the mother and the baby. However, 10 days after giving birth, the husband received a message from his wife saying that she was experiencing unusual symptoms such as a headache that would not go away even after taking medicine and eyesight problems.

The husband contacted the postpartum helper and the local manager of the agency several times and asked them to take his wife to a hospital, but the next day at around 9 a.m. local time, the wife was found dead alone in her room at the resort. No one was by her side when she was found, and she had never been to a hospital before she died.

The autopsy showed that the cause of death was pulmonary embolism and thrombosis — diseases associated with cesarean sections. In Korea, medical staff closely monitor for symptoms of these diseases in mothers after a cesarean section, but Kim was discharged from the local hospital in Guam a day after her procedure without any medical staff.

The agency that arranged the birth abroad, which had emphasized safety in its services before the incident, says it is not responsible. When Kim complained of unusual symptoms, the postpartum helper who received the husband’s message only visited the resort briefly and did not enter Kim’s room to check on her. Kim died after being left alone for over 20 hours.

The bereaved family has since sued the agency’s CEO and related parties for death by occupational negligence.

BY LIM JEONG-WON [lim.jeongwon@joongang.co.kr]