Ann Surg Treat Res.  2018 Apr;94(4):167-173. 10.4174/astr.2018.94.4.167.

Is the “ghost surgery” the subject of legal punishment in Korea?

• Hong SE
• Hong MK
• Park BY
• Woo KJ
• Kang SR

• KMID: 2407745
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.4174/astr.2018.94.4.167

Abstract

PURPOSE
Recently a controversy has arisen about so-called "ghost surgery" practices, and people have voiced their opinions for legal sanction against such practices, which clearly undermine the foundation of medical ethics. However, there has been a lack of legal basis for punishing those actions. The present study aims to examine which pre-existing legal provisions could be applied to regulate ghost surgery.
METHODS
The Korean Medical Service Act has a provision relating to informed consent to inhibit ghost surgery but does not include penalty provisions prohibiting ghost surgery itself. Also, the Korean Supreme Court precedents on this issue have not been settled as of yet. Therefore, this study referred to U.S precedents, law books, and related papers.
RESULTS
With respect to ghost surgery, we expect the charges of bodily harm, assault and battery, and fraud could be applied under Korean law, in addition to charges regarding the violation of medical law, such as the omission of entries or false entries in medical records. A patient provides consent to bodily harm prior to surgery, and only the person who is entrusted with such permission can become the operating surgeon in the operating room.
CONCLUSION
In other words, even if other medical professionals are present in the operating room, the operating surgeon who received consent must take overall responsibility for the whole process of the surgery. A surgeon should bear in mind that a violation of such duty can constitute a criminal offense.

Keyword

Ghost surgery; Legal punishment; Medical disputes

MeSH Terms

Criminals
Ethics, Medical
Fraud
Humans
Informed Consent
Jurisprudence
Korea*
Medical Records
Operating Rooms
Punishment*
Surgical Procedures, Operative

Figure

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  Fig. 1 Schema of medical litigation flow based on current provisions in ghost surgery.

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  Fig. 2 Applicable provisions to ghost surgery according to complications that occurred after surgery.

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