Questionable Rebuttal
Grand Plastic Surgery, which was prosecuted for having non-plastic surgeons stand in for plastic surgeons in the operating room without patients’ knowledge, allegedly spoke in its defense that the ghost surgery practice was part of a joint treatment during the third trial held on July 12. Grand Plastic Surgery is said to be one of Seoul's top three plastic surgery clinics to attract foreign patients, with industry sources estimating the hospital makes at least 50 billion won annually. Whether the excuse of joint treatment will affect the verdict and alleviate the weight of the charge against the clinic remains questionable.
The plastic surgery boom was created through the Hallyu wave in East Asian countries including China. Through popularity of Korean dramas and Kpop, Hallyu is said to have popularized Korean celebrities and their make-up and fashion styles abroad. The government is concerned that ghost surgery may ruin its efforts to attract overseas medical tourists to receive plastic surgeries in Korea.
Following a series of accidents there, including the death of a patient, the hospital had come under suspicion of performing ghost surgeries. In April this year, the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office charged Ryu Sang-wook, director of Grand Plastic Surgery Clinic, with fraud. The Korean Association of Plastic Surgeons had also suspended the memberships of the 44-year-old and other doctors at the clinic and asked the prosecution to investigate the surgeons and the hospital.
Between November 2012 and October 2013, 33 patients who were scheduled to undergo operations by Ryu found that Ryu had other doctors, including dentists and otolaryngologists, stand in for him while the patients were unconscious under anesthesia without the patients' consent. Ryu allegedly saved 150 million won ($126,000) by this practice.
Apart from charges relating to ghost surgeries, Ryu is also charged with running plastic surgery clinics and dental clinics under other doctors' names in Seoul and Busan from 2012 to 2013. Under the Korean Medical law, medical personnel cannot run more than one medical facility.
He also allegedly failed to properly manage and keep records of anesthetics and other drugs. Parents of a 19-year-old woman who lost brain function and died during an operation at Grand Plastic Surgery Clinic claimed that the clinic had performed the surgery without notifying them and put their daughter under general anesthesia despite the fact that rhinoplasty and double-eyelid procedures don’t typically require strong anesthetics. After launching a probe into the case, the Korean Association of Plastic Surgeons also acknowledged that some doctors would administer large doses of sleeping pills in order to conceal the fact that a different surgeon was performing the operation.
So far, Ryu has denied all of the abovementioned charges against him. An industry source commented that even if the intention of joint treatment by the clinic proved true, the negligence of not notifying patients of the change of surgeon would remain a serious crime and wouldn’t affect the verdict.
The Korean Association of Plastic Surgeons added that in the case of joint treatment, the doctor to whom a patient gives permission for the operation should participate in the given operation and remain responsible. An operation in the absence of the doctor who would be accountable for any error is hard to deem as a joint treatment.
The next trial is scheduled to be held on Sept. 1 at the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office. A doctor who claimed to have stood in for Ryu will appear as a witness.
Business Korea made several attempts to hear about the clinic's position but the clinic provided no comment.