Hospital conducts abortion on wrong woman after confusing patients

The Korea Times

The Korea Times

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Sat, September 30, 2023 | 16:27

Law & Crime

Hospital conducts abortion on wrong woman after confusing patients

Posted : 2019-09-23 16:39

Updated : 2019-09-23 16:43

A Vietnamese woman in Korea has had an unwanted abortion due to hospital staff's mistake. /gettyimagesbank

By Kim Hyun-bin

A hospital in Seoul performed an abortion on the wrong woman after mixing up two patients.

The Gangseo Police Station said Monday they booked a doctor and a nurse at the hospital in western Seoul on suspicion of professional negligence resulting in injury.

The victim, a Vietnamese woman, visited the hospital with her husband on Aug. 7 for a pregnancy test. It was confirmed that she was six weeks pregnant, and she was told she needed an IV solution for better nutrition.

When she was waiting for the IV, a nurse came with the wrong patient's chart which was for a woman who needed surgery for a missed miscarriage, in which the fetus had died but not yet been miscarried. Without confirming the woman's identity, the nurse injected her with an anesthetic drug instead of placing her on an IV.

As she fell asleep, a gynecologist then conducted the surgery, also failing to check the patient's charts.

After the 30-minute procedure, she went home but noticed bleeding and asked to speak to the doctor. But the hospital told her that he already left. She visited the hospital the next day as bleeding continued and got another checkup from a different doctor, who told her the baby had been aborted.

The woman then reported this to the police.

At first police reviewed to see if the hospital staff could be charged with "unconsented abortion," which can be punished by up to three years in prison. But the charge was not applicable because she neither approved nor disapproved of the procedure. So the police are now investigating for professional negligence.

hyunbin@koreatimes.co.kr