Korean mother visiting Guam in birth tourism trip dies after c-section

A Korean woman on a ‘birth tourism’ trip to Guam died after a c-section last year, according to MBC News, a top broadcaster in South Korea. 

The mother, who was in her 30s, is only identified by the surname Kim. 

She was found dead at Alupang Beach Tower in Tamuning last June, 12 days after giving birth at a hospital just five minutes away. 

Guam Memorial Hospital Spokesperson Cindy Hanson confirmed with KUAM that Kim was a patient at GMH. 

MBC said Kim was in the process of immigrating to the island. 

She and her husband traveled to Guam a month before giving birth through a domestic agency that arranges birth tourism packages. 

The sole purpose of this controversial practice is for the ‘anchor baby’ to obtain U.S. citizenship.  

The husband is now suing the agency for negligence. 

The husband returned to Korea for work believing a postpartum helper hired by the agency would take care of Kim and their newborn at the resort around the clock. 

Ten days later, he received a message from his wife saying she was experiencing a headache and trouble seeing. 

The husband said he contacted the postpartum helper and the local manager of the agency several times, asking them to take his wife to the hospital quickly.

But the next morning, she was found dead with no one by her side. 

She was left alone in her room for over 20 hours and without ever being taken to the hospital. 

Autopsy results show the cause of death to be pulmonary embolism and thrombosis, high risks likely to develop from c-sections. 

The report notes it’s why in Korea, medical personnel closely monitor for the symptoms after childbirth, but the deceased mother was discharged from GMH the day after she gave birth.  

Hansen said, “To avoid any potential HIPAA violations, GMHA has no comment at this time.”

KUAM reached out to the Korean Consulate who confirms they helped the bereaved family with funeral arrangements.

They say they also have been trying to find the unnamed agency the past year.

GMH and the Department of Public Health and Social Services both told KUAM neither agencies track birth tourism numbers.  

Meantime, the story, which broke about a week ago, already caught the attention of 2 million online. 

MBC is the same media company the Guam Visitors Bureau partnered with in 2018 to bring K-pop girl group TWICE to Guam. 

This also comes at a time when GVB is trying to revive the island’s lagging tourism industry.

Just recently, the Governor returned from her trip to Korea where she was working to boost visitor arrivals.