Kim Hyun-bin began his journalism career at Arirang TV from 2012 to 2017, specializing in defense, foreign affairs and the economy. In 2018, he joined The Korea Times, covering society and business, and is currently responsible for embassy affairs.
Calls rise for CCTV installation in hospital operation rooms
A doctor from CHA Bundang Women's Medical Center leaves the Seoul Central District Court in southern Seoul, Thursday, allowing the court time to review whether to issue an arrest warrant for him. The doctor allegedly helped cover up the accidental death of a premature infant at the hospital three years ago. The court issued the warrant later in the day. / Yonhap
By Kim Hyun-bin
By Kim Hyun-bin
Calls are growing to install CCTV systems inside hospital operation rooms, following a recent revelation of an alleged cover-up by doctors of an infant's accidental death.
While patients' groups say the measure is needed to better prevent medical accidents and make surgery procedures more transparent, doctors are voicing strong opposition claiming that no one will treat high risk patients for fear of being sued.
The push for CCTV installations has been recently fueled by an incident at CHA Bundang Women's Medical Center where a doctor accidently dropped a premature baby on the floor during a Caesarean section operation in August 2016. The infant was taken to the neonatal intensive care unit, but died several hours later.
However, the hospital did not tell this to the parents and said the baby died “from disease,” not from an external factor, despite records of the baby having a skull fracture and intracranial hemorrhage.
With the case being recently discovered, two doctors at the hospital were arrested and seven others were booked on suspicions of doctoring the baby's cause of death.
After the alleged cover-up attempt came to light, more people have voiced support for installing CCTVs in operation rooms to prevent and check on possible medical malpractice and eradicate the so-called ghost surgery, which refers to a situation where a patient's surgeon is substituted by another without the patient's consent while the patient is anesthetized.
“The surgery room is fully secluded from the outside and the patient is under anesthesia, so no one is aware of what goes on inside the room. CCTV footage could become the sole source of evidence,” civic groups and surgery victims' groups said during a press conference in front of the National Assembly Thursday.
“People involved in a ghost surgery are all accomplices, so there are no leaks on what goes on. There needs to be legislation that makes it mandatory to install CCTVs in operation rooms,” they added.
Most of the public have voiced support for the installation.
“I am in favor of the installations,” Chung, a Seoul resident in her mid-30s, said. “Patients are unconscious during surgery so they have a right to know what's going on during the operation. It could also be used for countering medical accidents.”
Since last year, the Gyeonggi provincial government has sought to install CCTVs in all hospital operation rooms in the province, believing the measure will better protect patients' human rights and help prevent medical accidents and disputes.
It started off with the local government-run Ansung Hospital but they faced a strong backlash from doctors, who claimed the measure would violate their human rights and hinder their surgical capabilities.
“If CCTVs are installed in operation rooms, medical culture will inevitably change for the worse and the death rate will also rise as no doctors will want to conduct surgery on high risk patients out of fear that the footage could lead to lawsuits,” Park Jong-hyuk, spokesperson at the Korean Medical Association, said.
“When reviewing footage of the surgery, different surgeons could have different opinions on how to proceed. And if the surgery has a negative result, it can only lead to more lawsuits,” he added.
For six months since October, Ansung Hospital carried out 1,002 surgeries, and 63 percent of the surgeries were recorded through CCTV after gaining consent from patients and their families.
Next month, the provincial government plans to install CCTVs in five more province-run hospitals in Suwon, Uijeongbu, Paju, Icheon, and Pocheon.
Last month, the local government suggested the Ministry of Health and Welfare seek to revise the Medical Law to make CCTV installations mandatory in all surgery rooms of 1,818 hospitals with more than 30 sickbeds nationwide.
It added that the state-run hospitals need to implement the system first so it can set an example and later be followed by the private sector.
“The medical field is against the installation, thinking the cameras will observe all their medical procedures. However, the provincial government believes it can become a systematic backbone to enhance patients' human rights and prevent ghost surgery,” an official from the Gyeonggi provincial government said. “We are looking at all means to expand the system to other hospitals.”