Medical Fraud

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Police cracked down on an OB/GYN hospital where the doctor ordered nurses or nurses' aides to perform Caesarean sections or laparoscopic surgeries. Apparently, more than 700 such stand-in surgeries took place in this hospital over the past several years.

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At this OB/GYN clinic in Ulsan... a man is seen expertly suturing up after a Caesarean section. The man, performing the operation as a doctor would, is actually a nursing assistant. The doctor was outside taking care of another matter.

[Soundbite] (Nurse(Voice Modified)) : "Do you know how to connect the gas? (No.) I told you to call the head doctor."

This nurse's aide performed over 700 surgeries since 2014. He performed a wide range of medical procedures, including Caesarean sections, suturing up after uterine myoma surgeries, urinary incontinence procedures, and female plastic surgeries. A great number of patients complained of adverse side effects.

[Soundbite] Jeon Seon-byeong(Ulsan Metropolitan Police Agency) : "The patients who suffered side effects were those who had received stand-in surgeries."

Another nurse did more than 10 stand-in surgeries. It turned out that this hospital's doctor, nurses, and nursing assistants were all deeply involved in substitute surgeries. Police sent 22 doctors, nurses, and nurse's aides to the prosecution to be indicted without detainment for violating health-related laws. Police believe that the hospital also illegally requested one billion won in insurance payments for such illegal medical procedures. The Police are expanding its investigation to see if similar incidents took place in other hospitals. However, the indicted hospital staff are flatly denying that they had ever performed any unlicensed medical procedures.