May 7, 2005
Shocking Photos Show Nurses Abusing Infants
There is no mention in this article from South Korean Digital Chosunilbo that these pictures were taken with a cameraphone before they were posted online, but it doesn't matter, because they could have been. Worse than off humour, worse than having terrible judgement and showing disrespect, these shocking pictures of infants sadly conjure up images of Abu Graib .
Excerpts from Digital Chosunilbo:
"Korea's active netizens are outraged about shocking pictures posted on a website that show nurses treating newborn children like toys in an obstetrics and gynecology hospital.
A nurse identifying herself as Lee, 24, posted on her homepage on Cyworld about 20 photos of women who look like nurses appearing to treat newborn children like objects.
Pictures show a nurse squeezing a newborn's face with her fingers, putting heart-shaped paper on a newborn's cheeks, and apparently placing a newborn in a plastic bag.
They also include off-color images of two newborns posed as if they were kissing, holding wooden chopsticks in their mouth and cups of instant noodles on their chest, or newborns wearing doctors' caps and holding needles.
Word of the photos spread as Internet users discovered the pictures on Lee's homepage and then uploaded them to other websites.
Lee's Cyworld homepage is currently shut down. Lee said she worked in an obstetrics and gynecology hospital in Daegu but quit last month and has since gone underground.
"It seems my photos have caused some misunderstanding, so I'm quite frightened and scared. I didn't upload those photos with the intention you believe I had," she wrote on her homepage. "I'm sorry. I bow my head and ask forgiveness."
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