이제는 사람 몸속의 병을 고치는 의사들까지, 생명경시의 풍조가 한국사회에 만연하고 있는, 살인행위들이, 문재인과 그패거리들의 나라 말아먹는 짖거리들과 똑같이, 유령닥터(무면허 의사)들이 성형수술을 하면서, 생명까지 끊어 버리는 비리가 줄지어 발생하고 있다는, 성형수술의 비리가 CNN의 폭로뉴스로 또 한국의 위상은 지옥속으로 떨어지고 말았다.
정치꾼들은 그들데로, 사람생명을 다루는 의사들은 의사들데로 서로 경쟁을 하듯이, 대한민국의 정직성을 시궁창에 처박느라 정신없는, 아수라장의 한국은 앞으로 어떻게 지구촌의 친구들과 공존하게 될까? 왕따를 당할 또하나의 빌미를 제공했네 그려.
CNN은 서울발 기사로 권대희( Kwon Dae Hee)씨의 어이없는 사망뉴스를 장문의 기사로 보도했다.
"여보세요. 권대희씨 형 맞아요?. 당신의 동생이 지금 ER(Endoplasmic Reticulum)상태에 있는데, 지금 병원으로 오실수 있나요?"
동생의 상태는 "그렇게 심하지는 않아요"라고 병원측은 설명이다. 나의 동생은 술취한뒤 싸움을 했던것으로 생각 했었다. 택시를 타고 바로 Seoul병원으로 달려가면서, 동생을 만나면 왜 말썽을 피우느냐고 다구칠 생각이었었다. 그러나 그런 기회는 오지 않고말았다. 형이 도착했을때 24세의 동생은 의식불명이었었다. 턱뼈를 더 갸름하게 잘라내는 수술을 하기위한 수술을 받은뒤, 그의 동생은 그의 얼굴을 감싸고 있는 붕대가 전부 피로 범벅이 되여 있었고, 그의 얼굴은 온통 붉은색이었다. 동생은 그상태에서 회복하지 못하고 그로부터 7주후에 세상을 떠나고 말았다.
권씨의 가족들은 죽은 동생은 "유령닥터의 수술 희생자"라고 설명이다. 그유령닥터는, 원래의 수술닥터가 고용한 닥터로, 수술받고있는 환자가 마취상태에 있을때 수술을 집도하는 의사를 뜻하는 말이다.
이러한 수술은 한국에서는 불법이지만, $10.7 billion-dollar의 거대한 성형수술이 붐을 이루고 있지만, 한국의 솜방망이 규정을 악용하여, 마치 공장에서 생산되는 제품처럼, 자격있는 수술닥터를 대신하여 무자격자들을 투입하여 수술하는 불법수술이 번창하고 있는 것이다.
닥터들은 때로는 동시에 여러개의 수술을 하기도한다. 그것은 바꾸어 얘기하면, 새로 자격증 획득한 성형수술 의사들, 치과의사, 간호원들 또는 어떤경우에는 수술장비를 판매하는 사람들이 불법으로 이러한 수술을, 전문의사를 대신하여 집도 하고 있다는 뜻이다.
Kwon's story(사망한 권군의 삶에 대한 이야기)
사망한 권군은 마음이 따뜻하고 겸손한 대학생으로, 어머니의 생일날에는 미역국을 손수 끓여서 어머니에게 생일상을 차려 드렸던 착한 아들로 가족들은 기억하고 있다. 그는 모든면에서 자신감이 넘쳤었지만, 외모에는 약간 자신감이 없어 보여, 성형수술을 하면 더 성공적인 삶을 살수 있을것이라고 믿었었던 동생이었다 라고 그의 형은 설명한다.
그가 사망하기직전에 찍은 사진에서 Kwon은 디지털로 얼굴을 약간변형시켜 턱을, 많은 K-pop idols 들처럼 V형턱으로 보이기도 했었다. 권군의 형과, 어머니 '이나금' 여사는 절대로 성형수술하지 말라고 말렸으나, 권군은 집안 식구들 모르게 비밀리에 강남의 화려한 구역에 있는, 턱성형 전문 의료소에 예약을 했었다. 강남지역은 전통적으로 K-pop Idols들이 많이 활동하는 지역이기도 하다.
2016년 9월 8일에 한닥터가 권군의 턱뼈를 깍아내는 수술을 했는데, 이러한 수술은 보통 1-2시간 시술이면 끝내는, 동아시아 지역에서는 매우 보편적인 수술인 것이다. 비용은 약 6백 5십만원( 미화 5,766달러)정도라고 어머니는 설명해 주셨다. 그러나 권군의 수술은 예상했던데로 잘 진행되지 못하고 말았다.
한국법에서는 무면허자인 그누군가 수술지시를 하거나 수술을하게 되면, 최고 5년 징역형을 살거나, 또는 5천만원(미화 44,000달러)의 벌금형을 받게된다. 만약에 자격증있는 닥터가, 유령닥터를 시켜서 수술을 하게되면 사기혐의 또는 몸을 망쳤다는 죄목으로 기소당하게된다. 그러나 이러한 범죄행위는 그증거를 찾기가 매우 어렵다. 많은 무면허 닥터들은 그들이 시술한 내역을 서류로 작성하여 남겨두지를 않으며, 또한 수술실에는 CCTV카메라도 설치되여있지 않다. 가끔씩은 불법시술로 재판을 받는 경우도 있지만, 유령닥터들이 받는 중범죄 판결은 매우 드물다. 그래서 이러한 성형시술소들은 계속해서 성형수술을 계속하는것이다라고 이분야의 변호사들은 설명하고있다.
그러나 권군의 의료사고가 집중조명되는 이유는 음지에서의 수술에 대한 새로운 관심을 끌기에 충분하다. 그의 가족은 이수술을 담당한 의사들을 살인범죄혐의로 몰아가는것 뿐만 아니라 의료법의 개정을 동시에 요구하고 있는 것이다.
A lack of laws(법의 미비가 원인)
권군의 가족은 수술을 집행한 시술소에 책임을 묻기를 원하고 있다. 그러나 권군의 가족은, 무면허 유령닥터들을 처벌하기위한 법이 매우 약하고 확실하게 처벌할수있는 법규가 없음을 발견한다.
문제는 한국의 대법원은 1974년에, 예쁘게 하기위한 미용의 목적으로 성형수술을 하는것을, 의료행위로 승인했었는데, 그다음해에 수술닥터들은 전문의로서의 시험에 합격해야 한다는 강제조항을 삽입했었다.(were required) '재생수술과 성형수술'의 두종류로 구별된다.
By 2014( 성형수술의사들은 엉터리수술을 척결해야한다라고 의기투합 )에야 관계당국은 무면허 유령닥터들의 시술을 알게된것이다. 2015년에 성형전문수술 닥터구룹은 '보건복지부'에, 성형수술을 시행하는 닥터들과 수술실에 CCTV카메라를 설치하도록, 매우 엄격한 법을 만들도록 요구했었다.
이렇게 불법시술이 성행하고 있는 이유는 문재인정부들어, 생명을 담보로 하는 성형수술에 대한 관심을 갖고 강력한 새로운 법을 제정하는것은 강건너 등불식으로 쳐다만 봤을뿐, 부동산투기법과 검찰공중분해를 위한 법제정에만 몰두해왔다는 문재인 정부의 국가운영은 "제사보다는 젯밥에만" 몰두했었고, 무능함을 다시 보게되는 찹찹한 심정이다.
자세한 비리내용은 아래의 원문을 참조하면 된다.
Seoul, South Korea (CNN)One Friday night, Kwon Tae-hoon received a call.
"Are you the brother of Mr. Kwon Dae-hee?" the caller asked. "Your brother is in the ER. Could you come to (the hospital) now?"
His brother's condition "wasn't that serious," the hospital said. Kwon assumed his brother had gotten into a fight after drinking, and, as he took a taxi to the Seoul hospital, he prepared to scold him for getting into trouble.
But he never got the chance. When Kwon arrived, the 24-year-old was unconscious. After having a surgery to make his jawline more slender, his brother had bled so much that the bandage around his face had turned red.
Kwon never made it. He died in hospital seven weeks later.
Kwon's family say he was the victim of a "ghost doctor," the name given to someone who performs a surgery another surgeon was hired for when the patient is under general anesthetic.
The practice is illegal in South Korea, but activists say weak regulations in the country's booming $10.7 billion-dollar plastic surgery industry have allowed factory-like clinics, where unqualified staff substitute for surgeons, to thrive. Doctors sometimes simultaneously conduct multiple operations -- meaning they rely on substitutes who may be freshly qualified plastic surgeons, dentists, nurses, or, in some cases, medical equipment sales people -- to undertake some of the work for them.
University student Kwon Dae-hee often digitally altered his face to make it appear slimmer.
Kwon in military uniform. Like most young South Korean men, he undertook compulsory military service.
Kwon and his mother Lee Na Geum before his death. Lee is now fighting for justice for her son.
Under South Korean law, someone who orders or performs an unlicensed medical act is subject to a maximum punishment of five years in prison or a maximum fine of 50 million won ($44,000). If a ghost surgery is performed by a licensed doctor, that could lead to charges of causing harm or fraud. But these crimes are hard to prove -- many substitute doctors don't note down the work they've done and many clinics don't have CCTV cameras. And even once the cases get to court, ghost doctors rarely get heavy penalties, which emboldens clinics to continue with the practice, lawyers say.
But Kwon's high-profile case has brought renewed attention to shadowy operators. His family aren't only bringing criminal charges against the doctors involved -- they're demanding legal changes, too.
Kwon's story
Kwon was a warm and humble university student, the kind of son who cooked seaweed soup for his mother's birthday, his family remembers. He was a high-achiever but was insecure about his looks and believed plastic surgery could make him more successful, his brother said.
In photos taken shortly before his death, Kwon had digitally altered his face to have the sort of pointy, V-like jaw seen on many K-pop idols.
Kwon's elder brother and mother, Lee Na Geum, tried to talk him out of getting plastic surgery, but Kwon secretly booked into a well-known clinic that specialized in jawline surgeries in the glitzy Seoul neighborhood of Gangnam, an area traditionally home to the country's biggest K-pop labels.
On September 8, 2016, a doctor removed bone to change the shape of Kwon's jawline, a popular surgery in East Asia that usually takes one to two hours. It cost 6.5 million won ($5,766), according to his mother.
But Kwon's operation did not go as planned.
After bleeding excessively, he was moved to hospital. At 9 a.m. the next morning, the plastic surgeon who had operated on Kwon arrived at the hospital. He told Kwon's family that the procedure had gone as normal and even offered CCTV footage of the operating room to prove it -- something that isn't required nationwide, but which some clinics do to increase trust. "I immediately felt that I needed that evidence," said Kwon's mother, Lee.
Lee watched the CCTV footage from the operating room 500 times, she says. The footage showed the surgery started at 12:56 p.m. when the plastic surgeon began to cut Kwon's jaw bone. Three nursing assistants were also in the room.
After an hour, the plastic surgeon left, and another doctor entered the operating room. The two entered and left the room, but for almost 30 minutes, there was no doctor in the operating room at all, although nursing assistants were present.
Lee saw that although the surgeon Kwon hired cut his jaw bones, he did not complete the surgery. Much of rest of the operation was done by the other doctor -- a general doctor who did not have a plastic surgery license and who had recently graduated from medical school, despite an advertisement for the clinic explicitly saying that the head doctor of the clinic would operate from start to finish.
"My brother trusted in that main doctor, and that's why he decided to be operated on there," Kwon Tae-hoon said.
The surgery finally finished at 4:17 p.m., more than three hours after it started, according to the footage. Jaw surgery usually takes an hour-and-a-half or less for an experienced doctor, according to Kim Seon-woong, the former law director of the Korean Association of Plastic Surgeons, who has run a plastic surgery clinic for 25 years.
After the surgery, both Kwon's doctors went home, leaving nurses in charge as he lost blood. Lee said she was shocked by the footage; as her son bled, assistants corrected their makeup or looked at their cellphones. In total, they mopped the bloody floor 13 times. When medical professionals evaluated the footage, they found he had likely lost three times as much blood as what the doctors had said.
Lee Na Geum at her home in Seoul. She is still trying to get justice for her son Kwon Dae-hee who died in 2016.
"I don't think this ghost doctor checked how much blood my son shed," she added. "I was so angry at that fact. Had just one of the three doctors checked how much he bled," she said, referring to the plastic surgeon, the ghost doctor and the anesthetist, "but no one did."
Despite Kwon's death, the clinic stayed open and continued to advertize that it had gone 14 years without a patient experiencing any accident. The clinic closed last year. It is unclear why.
A lack of laws
Kwon's family wanted to hold those responsible to account. But they soon found the laws around ghost doctors were weak and incomplete.
South Korea's Supreme Court approved plastic surgery for aesthetic purposes as a medical practice in 1974, and the following year surgeons were required to pass professional exams. By 2014, officials were aware of the practice of ghost surgeries. In 2015, a group of plastic surgeons asked the Ministry of Health and Welfare to tighten rules by requiring doctors to say who operated on a procedure, and installing CCTV cameras in the clinics.
Signs for plastic surgery clinics are displayed on the side of a building in the Sinsa-dong area of Gangnam district in Seoul, South Korea, on August 3, 2013.
Civic groups began monitoring ghost surgeries, Korean broadcaster SBS reported at the time, and the Korean Plastic Surgeons Association formed a special task force team to look into the ghost doctor practice. In 2018, the law changed to raise the penalties for doctors who instruct ghost surgeries. But a paper published in 2018 in medical journal Annals of Surgical Treatment and Research found the practice was still "rampant."
One surgeon, who CNN agreed not to name as he feared that speaking out could prompt legal repercussions, said he began working at one of the country's largest plastic surgeries in 2012. He no longer works there, but is speaking out because he doesn't want to live with the guilt.
He said he was often asked to perform surgeries for the main doctor, and described how substitutes waited in a basement until they were called to operate on patients. These people were not listed as employees on the clinic's website, and the clinic presented the surgeries as conducted by respected surgeons, he said.
Many of the face-shaping surgeries -- like the one Kwon had -- were performed by substitutes, mainly dentists, at the clinic where he worked, the surgeon said.
The plastic surgeon, who CNN has agreed not to name, says ghost doctors performed many surgeries at the clinic where he worked.
Onlookers agree the practice happens for a simple reason: profit. South Korea has the highest rate of plastic surgery per capita, according to a paper last year in medical journal Aesthetic Plastic Surgery. Before Covid-19 hit, South Korea attracted thousands of plastic surgery tourists annually. In the capital alone, there are 561 plastic surgery clinics, according to the Korean Statistics Office.
Jo Elfving-Hwang, an associate professor of Korean Studies at the University of Western Australia, said high-profile surgeons often use K-pop stars or celebrities to promote their clinic. But during busy periods, some can't deal with the volume of patients, especially as star doctors also need to be available for consultations with new customers, said Elfving-Hwang.
"That's where those instances have arisen," she said.
Ghost doctors are a way for clinics to maximize profits by getting another doctor to cover the star practitioner -- even if it's not legal. "I guess the reason why this practice is around is because young and inexperienced doctors can get jobs and gain experience, and clinics can operate at a lower cost by hiring them to perform," said the unnamed plastic surgeon. "In this way, clinics can take in more patients and conduct more surgeries."
Not all surgeries performed by ghost doctors result in injuries, but between 2016 to 2020, 226 people were injured, had side effects, required resurgery or died during plastic surgery, according to the Korea Consumer Agency, which did not specify which proportion had died or how. Some people who have died following plastic surgery include international travelers drawn to South Korea for plastic surgery, including a Chinese customer and a Hong Kong heiress, although it's unclear if these cases are included in the statistics.
Patients may not be aware they have been operated on by a ghost doctor. Ghost doctors may not note their involvement in the surgery on medical charts, and many operating rooms don't have cameras. That makes any charge difficult to prove, according to Park Ho-kyun, a lawyer representing Kwon's family.
If victims are aware, they may be unwilling to come forward, as they may feel ashamed, Elfving-Hwang said. If victims do take legal cases, they often settle out of court, which means signing a confidentiality clause if they receive compensation, according to the unnamed plastic surgeon.
It's unclear how many cases make it to court. But after cases are prosecuted in court, the Ministry of Health and Welfare can impose additional suspensions on doctors. A total of 28 administrative dispositions were imposed on doctors who ordered substituted surgery from 2015 to 2019, according to Ministry of Health and Welfare data provided by ruling party lawmaker Kwon Chil-seung's office. Five lost their licenses, and the rest had their licenses temporarily suspended.
One doctor who asked a nurse to perform eyelid or nose plastic surgeries at least 90 times received only a three-month suspension, according to ruling party lawmaker Kwon Chil-seung's office. Another doctor who ordered a medical device company employee and a nurse to perform at least 58 surgeries on spinal disc patients got a three-month suspension, the office added.
"There are ongoing efforts by lawmakers to strengthen the qualification of doctors by revising the medical law and the Health Ministry has agreed with the proposed bills," Health Ministry senior deputy director Park Jae-woo told CNN this month. "Since ghost surgery or substituted surgery occurs secretly, it is very difficult to find out the statistics or the current situation."
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