Top court demands review of ruling against hospital over wrong surgery

SEOUL, July 14 (Yonhap) -- South Korea's top court said Thursday that it has ordered a review of a ruling that punishes a hospital for operating on the wrong patient, saying the surgery was based on a different hospital's misdiagnosis.
The 45-year-old patient, identified only by her surname Kim, was diagnosed with breast cancer at Seoul's Severance Hospital in 2005 and later underwent surgery at Seoul National University Hospital to remove a part of her breasts. After the operation, she found out that her biopsy results had been switched with those of another patient at the first hospital and claimed 130 million won (US$122,000) in damages from both hospitals and the doctor responsible.
"In general, if a patient takes the results of his or her biopsy from one hospital to another, (the second hospital) does not carry out another biopsy," the Supreme Court said. "The doctor responsible cannot be said to have the obligation to repeat a biopsy in case of the highly rare possibility that the results have been switched."
In the first trial, Severance Hospital alone was ordered to pay 40 million won in damages, but the appeals court later found both hospitals guilty and demanded a combined total of 50 million won.