Only 1 in 10 Faces License Revocation for 'Unlicensed Medical Practice'

Ghost Surgeries by Non-Doctors in Liposuction and Plastic Surgery... Only 3-Month License Suspension

Rep. Kim Won-i: "Unlicensed Medical Practice Is a Serious Crime... Strong Measures Needed"

Won-i Kim, Member of the National Assembly (Democratic Party, Mokpo-si, Jeollanam-do)

[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Seo Young-seo] Article 27, Paragraph 1 of the Medical Service Act (Prohibition of Unlicensed Medical Practice) stipulates that no one other than a licensed medical professional may perform medical acts, and even licensed medical professionals may not perform medical acts beyond their licensed scope.

However, since the 2016 incident in which the late Kwon Dae-hee, aged 25, died from excessive bleeding during facial contour surgery at a plastic surgery clinic, public anxiety over “ghost surgeries” has been rising, leading to calls for stronger sanctions against unlicensed medical practices.

Kim Won-i, a member of the National Assembly from the Democratic Party of Korea (Mokpo City, Jeonnam), analyzed data on administrative sanctions related to Article 27 of the Medical Service Act over the past five years, submitted by the Ministry of Health and Welfare, revealing 204 cases where non-medical personnel were allowed to perform surgeries or other medical acts.

The cases surged from 44 in 2016, 42 in 2017, to 73 in 2018, then decreased to 36 last year. As of May this year, 9 cases have occurred. Among medical professionals who received administrative sanctions for “ghost surgeries,” doctors accounted for the highest number with 70 cases, followed by Korean medicine doctors with 63, nurses with 40, dentists with 30, and midwives with 1 case.

Meanwhile, under the Medical Service Act, penalties for unlicensed medical practice (violation of Article 27, Paragraph 1) include imprisonment for up to five years or a fine of up to 50 million KRW, and administrative sanctions include suspension of medical license for four months and suspension of medical institution operations for three months.

However, if sentenced to imprisonment with labor or higher, a medical professional’s license or qualification may be revoked, but most sanctions against medical professionals caught performing unlicensed medical acts have been limited to license suspension.

Of the total 204 administrative sanctions for unlicensed medical practice over the past five years, 186 cases (91.2%) were license suspensions, and 18 cases (8.8%) were license revocations. Thus, only about one in ten medical professionals performing “ghost surgeries” had their licenses revoked, while the rest received suspensions.

Most license suspensions lasted between one and three months. There were 5 cases of suspension within one month, 158 cases between over one month and up to three months, which was the most common, 20 cases between over three months and up to six months, 2 cases between over six months and up to nine months, and 1 case exceeding nine months.

By year, license suspensions numbered 44 in 2016, 40 in 2017, 63 in 2018, 30 in 2019, and 9 as of May 2020. License revocations were absent in 2016, with 2 cases in 2017, 10 in 2018, 6 in 2019, and none as of May 2020.

Representative cases of unlicensed medical practice include a nurse assistant performing nose plastic surgery and eyelid plastic surgery 90 times, a medical device company representative without medical qualifications participating in surgeries 74 times, and assisting nurse assistants in liposuction surgeries.

However, those who performed “ghost surgeries” risking human lives received only a “three-month license suspension.”

Assemblyman Kim Won-i stated, “Unlicensed medical acts such as ‘ghost surgeries’ that threaten the lives and human rights of the public are serious criminal acts,” and emphasized, “The government must take active measures and establish strong policies to eradicate unlicensed medical practices and ensure a safe medical environment.”

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.