Nursing Assistant Performed Illegal Plastic Surgery... Collected Up to 1 Billion Won in Surgery Fees

305 Patients Received Indemnity Insurance Payments with False Documents
Taught Plastic Surgery Techniques to Doctors and Received Salary

The head of a hospital was caught for repeatedly performing illegal plastic surgeries through a nursing assistant without a medical license, collecting over 1 billion KRW in surgery fees, and committing insurance fraud by deceiving patients into receiving reimbursements for treatments such as manual therapy and athlete's foot treatment.

On the 7th, the Violent Crime Investigation Unit of the Busan Metropolitan Police Agency arrested and sent to prosecution Mr. A, a man in his 50s and the hospital director operating as a manager, on charges of insurance fraud, violation of the Medical Service Act, and violation of the Special Act on the Prevention of Insurance Fraud. They also arrested Ms. B, a nursing assistant in her 50s, on charges including professional negligence causing injury.

Additionally, the police referred seven brokers who introduced patients to them and 305 patients who fraudulently received reimbursements for actual loss insurance premiums to the prosecution.

According to the police, Mr. A opened a so-called manager-operated hospital in Yangsan, Gyeongnam, around October 2021, using a borrowed medical license, and promoted Ms. B as a plastic surgery specialist who had operated on famous celebrities in Gangnam.

Then, Mr. A recruited patients through brokers by claiming, "You can get plastic surgery without spending money."

Ms. B, who obtained her nursing assistant certificate in 1989, had seen plastic surgery scenes at hospitals but was a fake doctor without a medical license.

Nevertheless, Ms. B is suspected of impersonating a doctor and performing unlicensed illegal surgeries such as eye and nose plastic surgery and liposuction for about 16 months until last February.

The police confirmed that the number of illegal plastic surgeries performed reached 72 times.

In particular, Ms. B has a history of being punished twice for similar crimes in Seoul and Gyeonggi, and it is known that she attempted to get employed at other hospitals using a fake medical license even during the police investigation.

Furthermore, Ms. B reportedly taught plastic surgery techniques to two doctors and received a weekly salary worth about 5 million KRW, and before the COVID-19 pandemic, she even traveled to China for overseas surgeries.

Illegal plastic surgery scene of nursing assistant B.
[Photo by Busan Police Agency]

Among the patients who received plastic surgery from Ms. B, who lacked medical expertise, four suffered permanent disabilities where their eyes could not close. Other side effects such as abnormal shapes at the surgical site and infections also occurred frequently.

Mr. A and Ms. B collected over 1 billion KRW in surgery fees from patients and then fabricated false medical records indicating that patients had received 10 to 20 sessions of athlete's foot and manual therapy treatments. Patients submitted these false documents to insurance companies and received an average of 3 million KRW in actual loss insurance reimbursements, effectively covering their surgery costs.

In fact, most patients essentially received free plastic surgery at this hospital.

During this process, Mr. A also collected about 120 million KRW in medical care benefits from the National Health Insurance Service.

Moreover, brokers received 10% of the surgery fees as a commission for recruiting patients.

A police official stated that 350 million KRW of criminal proceeds from Mr. A and others were confiscated and recovered.

Choi Haeyoung, head of the Violent Crime Investigation Division at the Busan Metropolitan Police Agency, said, "Receiving insurance money with documents that differ from the actual medical treatment can be punished as insurance fraud."

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