In South Korea, abortion performed on wrong woman by mistake

Seoul, South Korea, Sep 24, 2019 / 12:29 pm

Police in South Korea are investigating a doctor who mistakenly performed an abortion on the wrong woman in August.

The mix-up was due to an inadvertent switch of medical charts, and a failure to confirm the patient's identity before the procedure, CNN reports.

A Vietnamese woman pregnant with a 6-week-old baby entered a gynecology clinic in the Gangseo district of Seoul on Aug. 7. She was supposed to receive a vitamin shot, but the nurse mixed up her identity and instead gave her an anesthesia injection, local police said.

The woman then fell asleep. She did not know the doctor – who also reportedly failed to confirm her identity - was performing an abortion.

The following day, the woman began bleeding and returned to the clinic. She was informed by a different doctor that she had undergone an abortion, ABC News reports.

The doctor and nurse are now under investigation for negligence causing bodily harm, and the case will soon go to the prosecutor's office.

Police officials told ABC News that the doctor and nurse have admitted to professional negligence in the mistaken abortion.

Abortion is generally illegal in South Korea, except in cases of rape, incest, threat to the mother's life, or if the parents carry a hereditary disease.