In Korea, nursing assistants usually work under a licensed nurse’s supervision. (image: Korea Bizwire)
SEOUL, Jan. 31 (Korea Bizwire) — A nursing assistant has been arrested for performing plastic surgery on more than 1,000 patients at a Seoul clinic for three years, police said Thursday.
The assistant, identified only as a 70-year-old man, is accused of posing as a plastic surgeon to perform more than 1,500 plastic surgery procedures on over 1,000 victims from 2015 to 2018, Seoul’s Joongrang Police Station said.
The assistant is suspected of having earned about 1 billion won (US$900,000) through the illegal medical practices, it said.
Police also arrested the 56-year-old plastic surgeon who hired the nursing assistant three years ago at his clinic in eastern Seoul and helped him pose as a cosmetic surgeon.
Police said the nursing assistant performed face-lifts, double eyelid surgeries and other medical procedures on patients who mostly came from neighborhood beauty salons and skin care shops.
In Korea, nursing assistants usually work under a licensed nurse’s supervision. In most cases, high school graduates become nursing assistants after undergoing 1,520 hours of theory classes and practice at nurse academies.
The two kept their illegal acts so secret that other employees at the clinic thought the nursing assistant was a real doctor, police said.
Police suspect the clinic owner may have hired the fake doctor to cut costs.
(Yonhap)
