By Bae Ji-sook
Staff Reporter

A woman who lost her uterus due to a hospital's misuse of drugs has sued the Korea Food and Drug Administration for alleged improper supervision.

She claimed that the administration in charge of the authorization and management of the drugs should have given notice to hospitals about the side effects and regulated their use correctly, her attorneys at law firm CS said.

According to the Seoul Central District Court, a 33-year-old woman in Busan identified as Kim had to have her uterus removed in the wake of continual bleeding after being injected with Cytotec, which contains misoprostol, during labor.

The substance is authorized for digestive organ treatment use in both Korea and the United States, but many obstetricians use it as a potent stimulator for contractions due to its low cost, Kim's attorneys said.

In the filing of the suit, her lawyer claimed that the KFDA has failed to be more strict and ban the use of drugs for unauthorized purposes. In 2007, a court ordered a doctor to pay 130 million won in compensation for the death of a woman who died during labor after being injected with misoprostol.

``There is no guideline for the use of the substance despite a similar court case. Kim was victimized by not knowing that she had other options ㅡ there are other stimulants,'' the lawyer claimed in the complaint.

Kim received compensation from the hospital following the court's mediation, but she decided to continue a separate legal fight against the government so that she could set an example, her lawyer said.

bjs@koreatimes.co.kr