Doctors perform abortion on wrong woman after staff mixed up her medical chart
A doctor reportedly performed an abortion on the wrong woman in South Korea after mistaking her for someone else. The woman, who has not been identified, was six weeks pregnant when she went to the clinic to receive nutritional supplements.
The doctor and a nurse who performed the abortion procedure on August 7 reportedly did not check who the patient was and went on to give her anesthetics and aborted her fetus. They have not been identified either, however, police officials have initiated an investigation into the incident.
The clinic is based in Gangseo, a district in the country's capital Seoul. The affected woman, who is Vietnamese, was informed of her pregnancy on the day of the incident, according to Yonhap News Agency.
She was prescribed a nutritional injection after the diagnosis and was told that she would receive it in the delivery room of the clinic. However, in an apparent mix-up of patient records, the nurse in the room allegedly injected the woman with anesthesia instead.
A doctor then performed the abortion while the patient was unaware of what was happening. The woman reportedly returned to the hospital the next day after experiencing bloody discharge only to be told that her unborn child had been aborted.
She then alerted the authorities of the incident. The Gangseo Police Station, on Monday, said that the doctor and the nurse who conducted the procedure are under investigation on suspicion of professional negligence resulting in injury.
"The doctor and nurse have acknowledged their fault," authorities said. Abortion is illegal in South Korea under the current laws which are set to change by December 31, 2020.
Reports state that women who have abortions can be fined and imprisoned and doctors who perform the procedures can also face a prison sentence. The law, however, makes exceptions for pregnancies due to rape, incest, or if it threatening the mother's life.
According to the country's Health Ministry, an estimated 50,000 abortions were carried out in South Korea last year, however, the actual number is likely to be much higher at around one million.