China: Woman To Sue Hospital After Her Breast Surgery Video Surfaces Online

A shocking revelation occurred in a Chinese hospital located in Henan province, central China, in January where a woman got indignant over a privacy breach that resulted in her video being secretly recorded while she underwent a breast augmentation surgery. The hospital is known for its cosmetic surgeries overall in China. The video showed her unconscious under the influence of anaesthesia and had been found circulating on Douyin, China’s TikTok, five months after the surgery.

Gao's recognition palpable in the leaked video

Concurrently, the video has got over 39,000 shares on the app. Moreover, similar graphics and videos of other women had also been found on Douyin which managed to portray that such breach of privacy is systematic. Gao, surname of the woman by which she is identified had undergone the breast enlargement procedure.

According to the South China Morning Post, Gao said, "The video has severely violated my privacy as I am clearly identifiable in it." She had reportedly contacted the hospital numerous times to demand the identity of the culprit who recorded her, but the hospital has been avoiding any accountability for the same. 

Gao has also asked the hospital to make a public apology and pay her the compensation required for the saddening incident. Furthermore, the hospital has continued to refuse to apologise for the incident and claimed that the video was taken and posted by an “external" party. The accused could not be traced via CCTV footage as the hospital deleted all logs of CCTV after three months which made the investigation even more strenuous. However, the hospital offered to coordinate with social media platforms to remove the video.

What happens now?

But Gao believes that the hospital is trying to protect the indicted and argued that an operation theatre is a highly private setting where the entry and exit of staff and patients is monitored. This also implies that a random person cannot record a video from such proximity until he or she does not have the authorisation. 

The hospital representatives pursued that the accused person had since left the hospital and they had removed all of the contact information. But this response has failed to convince Gao and others. As per SCMP, such a response from the hospital can set a precedent where hospitals and other institutions can escape responsibility by blaming former employees.

Therefore, Gao has now decided to sue the hospital for infringement of privacy and image rights. Ma Bin, a lawyer from Tianxin Law Firm in Henan, told the media that even if the video was made and circulated by an external individual or ex-employee, the hospital remains culpable for it.