Doctor in South Korea performs an abortion on the WRONG woman after they failed to check her identity as police investigate the blunder
- The woman, six weeks pregnant, was at the clinic for nutritional supplements
- A nurse and doctor allegedly confused patients’ medical records
- The woman was given anaesthetic before a surgical abortion
A doctor in South Korea performed an abortion on the wrong woman after confusing her with someone else, police have said.
The unnamed woman was six weeks pregnant when she went to the clinic to receive what is believed to be nutritional supplements.
But both the doctor and the nurse failed to check who she was, giving her anaesthetic before the abortion.
Police confirmed they have launched an investigation into the blunder on August 7.
A doctor in Gangseo, South Korea performed, an abortion on the wrong woman after not confusing her identity. Police said they have launched an investigation
The clinic is based in the district of Gangseo, in the country’s capital Seoul.
According to Yonhap News Agency, the Vietnamese woman had been told she was pregnant the day of the incident.
She was prescribed a nutritional injection which she was told to receive in the delivery room of the clinic.
But in a mix-up of patient records, the nurse allegedly injected the woman with anaesthesia without confirming her identity.
There are two main types of abortion.
A medical abortion is known as the ‘abortion pill’ which can be taken in any stage of the pregnancy. The pill contains hormones that cause the lining of the womb to break down, therefore losing the baby.
A surgical abortion involves a minor procedure to remove the pregnancy under a form of anaesthetic.
This may be vacuum or suction aspiration, up to 15 weeks of pregnancy, which is when a tube is inserted into the vagina to suck the pregnancy out.
Dilatation and evacuation is used from around 15 weeks of pregnancy. It involves inserting special instruments called forceps through the cervix and into the womb to remove the pregnancy.
The doctor then performed the abortion while the patient remained unaware. It is not clear what the method of abortion was, but it is thought it was surgical because the woman was given anaesthetic.
The next day, the woman reportedly returned to the hospital after experiencing bloody discharge, at which point it was revealed her unborn child had been aborted.
The Gangseo Police Station said Monday the doctor and a nurse are under investigation on suspicion of professional negligence resulting in injury.
They said: ‘The doctor and nurse have acknowledged their fault.’
Abortion is illegal in South Korea under current laws which are due to change by December 31, 2020.
Women who have abortions can be fined and imprisoned and doctors who perform the procedure can also face jail – with exceptions for pregnancies due to rape or incest, or if the pregnancy is threatening the mother’s life.
An estimated 50,000 abortions were carried out in South Korea last year, according to the country’s Health Ministry, but it is likely much higher, as many as one million.
Despite the current law, abortions are widely accessible in South Korea and can be carried out safely.
A Chinese doctor was disciplined in 2013 for wrongly telling a woman she was not pregnant – leading her to have an abortion when she found out weeks later.
The 46-year-old woman was seen by Dr Chow Kwan-lung in 2009 at Tsuen Wan Adventist Hospital, Hong Kong, The South China Morning Post reported.
She told Dr Chow Kwan-lung she suspected she was pregnant because her period had stopped, and Dr Chow Kwan-lung performed blood tests.
But after reading the results wrong, he discharged the woman who later went on to have an x-ray examination and take medication for an unknown reason.
In January 2010, the woman consulted a gynaecologist because she had not had a period for so long. It was then that she learned she was 12 weeks pregnant.
She decided to terminate the pregnancy after having considered the possible adverse effect on the foetus caused by the x-ray examination and the medication she had taken.
At a medical council disciplinary hearing, the council emphasised that a doctor must take care when reading test results, but also urged for clearer test reports to be made.
In another blunder, it was revealed an investigation was being carried out in a hospital in Ireland after an abortion mix-up in March this year.
A perfectly healthy child was aborted at The National Maternity Hospital in Dublin for having a misdiagnosed ‘fatal foetal abnormality’.
Reports said the parents were told at a scan over 15 weeks that their baby had Edwards Syndrome, a serious genetic condition which means the child is unlikely to live beyond the first few months of life.
The family’s solicitor, Caoimhe Haughey said to RTE: ‘[The parents] did not go into this clinic or into this hospital with a view to having a termination.
‘They never brought up the word termination.’
Allegedly the parents were put under pressure to have the abortion, and were later ‘utterly mentally and physically devastated’ to find out from tests afterwards that their baby was in fact, healthy.
It is understood that the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (ROCG) have been approached regarding the possibility of conducting a review.
In Ireland, abortion is permitted during the first twelve weeks of pregnancy, and only later if the woman’s health is at risk, or in the cases of a fatal foetal abnormality.
Abortions in England, Wales and Scotland are carried out by the end of the 24th week of pregnancy except if there are special circumstances.
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