The suspicious death of 14-year-old Mike White.

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Here's a story about a foreigner dying under suspicious circumstances that's been on Dave's the past few hours. Here is a message from his mother, copied and pasted from another site via Dave's:

Last Saturday, May 10th Mike, Corina, Maggie & I went to Royal Hawaii Sauna to relax. At 11:45 staff notified Corina & I that Mike needed to go to the hospital. I called his cell phone at 11:47 thinking he just needed stitches or something... it wouldnt be the first time ;-)

When he didn't answer, we threw on our clothes and rushed out to the parking lot to discover that Mike was already in the ambulance. There are ALOT of unanswered questions. The ambulance guy (1 of 2) was doing a crappy job of chest compressions. Apparently, the Sauna called Mike in as DOA & the ambulance was sent as transport only. After they arrived (LATE 11:40-11:45, they were called in at 11:02!!) they started CPR. This indicated that Mike was NOT absolutely NOT DOA

The really heartwrenching part for me, is that the staff didn't get me or Corina. We are both first reponder trained & we could have saved his life.

The autopsy showed he suffered damage to his throat, lungs & back of his mouth from extreme coughing & retching. Even if no one was in the room the sounds should have been echoing to alert staff/patrons that someone was in distress. The doctor who did the autopsy said there was a strong time frame when Mike could have been revived if folks had 1) responded to his distress 2) the staff didnt presume to know Mike's medical condidion without training 3) the ambulance had come earlier 4) THE STAFF HAD THOUGHT TO NOTIFY MIKE'S MOTHER!!!!

The manager of the Sauna keeps calling & wanting details about Mike's condition & autopsy. He knows he fucked up and he's scrambling to cover his ass. The cops hadn't even interviewed anyone from the Sauna so they're about pinkerton.

The police are already back peddling and saying they will "try" to find some answers to my questions. I think it would be better for everyone possible should be asking these questions to as many places & people as possible. The police say that I have to hire a lawyer to gather the information so they can process the case. So they are detectives who dont detect. Ah Korea sparkling~

It's been a long few days & I'm really needing to step back after riding with Mike to & back from Ulsan for the autopsy and then the police report. I'll add more information in the morning.

You can find another post on this here. This all seems to have taken place in Gyeongsan, Gyeongsanbuk-do, although none of the three sources have been specific. So far there are two vigils planned and there are Facebook groups set up to get organized and stay connected. One is at the US Embassy on Friday the 16th from 8:30 to 3:00 (more information here), and another one will be on Sunday from 12:30 to 4:00 in front of the sauna where he died (more information here). Here's an excerpt from the second group's description:

A silent gathering to show the Sauna that many people know of this and they are supporting Mike's mom in seeking answers as to why her healthy (autopsy certified) son was left to violently choke & retch untill unconsciousness then to call in the situation as a DOA.
Because this was called in as a DOA, the ambulance sent was for transport only & they waited 40 minutes before they came. The ambulance workers immediately saw the DOA was false & began CPR yet were not properly trained for this as they were only the DOA transport ambulance.
The Sauna also called ahead to the ER (DOA) so they were not prepared for intravension. The autopsy doctor said it was clear to him Mike could have been revived without question, even after 40 minutes there would have been only minimal brain damage (similar to a mild stroke).

I don't have much time this morning to look into it, although off-hand a few other cases of foreigners dying under suspicious circumstances come to mind. Bill Kapoun, for example, Matthew Sellers, and the University of Pittsburgh's Jamie Penich, who was found murdered in an Itaewon motel. Given the high number of foreigners who come to and through Korea, I'm not saying there is a rash of violence or negligence against them, especially since the vast majority are obviously not dying under suspicious circumstances. Moreover, I have no idea about how many Korean deaths go unsolved after little to no investigation. Just worth pointing out that the bit about having to hire a lawyer to finish processing the case is something we've heard before.

* Update 1: The story hit most of the blogs yesterday afternoon and appeared in the English-language Korean media yesterday evening. Not sure if it's in the Korean-language media. The Korea Times piece is here. A Marmot's Hole write-up is here.