Police in South Korea launched an investigation in Seoul after a doctor performed an abortion on the wrong patient in an identity mix up.
The victim, a woman from Vietnam, visited a clinic with her husband in the Gangseo district in Seoul on Aug. 7 where doctors confirmed she was 6-weeks pregnant, according to Seoul Gangseo Police.
She was prescribed an IV solution at the gynecology clinic; however, she was allegedly given an anesthesia injection instead when her medical charts were mixed up with those of another woman, according to South Korean news agency Yonhap.
The doctor then performed an abortion on the woman without confirming her identity, and without the victim’s knowledge, police said.
The victim returned to the same clinic the following day after experiencing bleeding and was told by another doctor that she had gone through an abortion, reported the Korean Herald.
“The police charged the doctor and nurse on suspicion of professional negligence, as they admitted to committing such offense,” Seoul Gangseo Police told ABC News.
Police announced on Sept. 23 an investigation had been launched into the incident, and that the case is set to make its way to the prosecutor’s office soon, according to the news outlet.
The news came just months after South Korea moved to legalize abortion, with the country’s constitutional court ruling that lawmakers must revise existing laws by Dec. 31, 2020.
However, the procedure is currently still illegal, and under existing laws, women can face up to a year in prison, while medical professionals can be handed a sentence of up to two years.
There are exceptions in some instances, such as if the pregnancy occurs because of rape or incest; if the parents have hereditary diseases; or if the fetus threatens the mother’s life.
According to South Korea’s Health Ministry, it is estimated that about 50,000 abortions were carried out in the country last year.
Doctor Performed Abortions on 10-Year-Old, 13-Year-Old
A U.S. doctor who had thousands of fetal remains at his home performed abortions on girls as young as 10 years old.
Dr. Ulrich Klopfer died on Sept. 3. An attorney representing his family told authorities they found the fetal remains while looking through his house in Illinois after the death.
Approximately 2,246 medically preserved remains were found.
Klopfer, who used to perform abortions in Indiana, once performed abortions on a 10-year-old girl and a 13-year-old girl.
Klopfer testified during a hearing triggered by a complaint filed by the Indiana Attorney General’s Office and told those present that he performed an abortion on a 10-year-old girl who was raped by her uncle.
He said he let the girl go home with her parents, who were aware of the rape but did not want the uncle prosecuted.
Several members of the Indiana Medical Licensing Board brought it up in the final discussion before they took Klopfer’s license in 2016, reported the South Bend Tribune.
Besides the 10-year-old, the board found that Klopfer failed to report a second abortion on a girl under the age of 14. Klopfer originally stopped performing abortions in Fort Wayne in 2014 when he was unable to meet the county’s laws, and the last of his three clinics closed in 2015.
Klopfer said he had never lost anyone he performed an abortion on and his attorney said the case was about documents, not medical care.
“He provided good medical care for his patients and did his best to follow the law,” Mary Watts told the Tribune. “It’s a question of documentation.”
The St. Joseph County Prosecutor’s Office brought a misdemeanor charge against Klopfer in 2014 for allegedly failing to properly report an abortion performed on a 13-year-old who was raped.
Indiana law requires such an abortion to be reported within three days.
The charge was eventually dismissed by prosecutors. Klopfer agreed to pay fees and other court costs, perform 24 hours of community service, and not commit a crime for a year.
Epoch Times reporter Zachary Stieber contributed to this report.
