Doctor Who Entrusted Surgery to Nurse Assistant Faces Trial

Doctors who entrusted surrogate surgeries to nursing assistants have been brought to trial.

The Criminal Division 3 of Gwangju District Prosecutors' Office (Chief Prosecutor Park Seong-min) announced on the 26th that they have indicted Doctor A (72), nursing assistants B (60) and C (41), and medical device dealer D (42) without detention on charges of violating the Special Act on the Control of Health Crimes (illegal medical practitioner).

Doctor A is accused of having surrogate surgeries performed by nursing assistants without medical qualifications on 40 patients at a hospital located in Gwangju Metropolitan City from February 2019 to November 2020.

Medical personnel are doctors, dentists, oriental medicine doctors, midwives, and nurses licensed by the Minister of Health and Welfare, while nursing assistants belong to a broader category of healthcare workers.

Although Doctor A holds a medical license, due to health issues, he was unable to perform delicate surgeries, so nursing assistant B led the surgeries with nursing assistant C assisting, according to the investigation.

It was also found that D directly performed surgeries twice.

The prosecution conducted supplementary investigations into this case, which the police had closed without charges after the complainant's objection, uncovering the full extent of the surrogate surgeries. The complainant had filed a complaint with the police after suffering sequelae following surgery in 2019.

A prosecution official emphasized, "We will strictly deal with unqualified medical practices, which are representative crimes infringing on public health."

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