Woman to sue Chinese hospital for secretly filming her while undergoing breast surgery: Report

Ma Bin, a lawyer from Tianxin Law Firm in Henan, central China has said 'Posting videos online showing patients’ faces without their consent constitutes an infringement of privacy rights and image rights. Even if the video was produced by an external individual, the hospital remains responsible.'

A woman who underwent a breast augmentation surgery in China was shocked to watch herself in a video that was being widely shared on the internet five months after she underwent the operation. Apparently, she was filmed secretly during the surgery.

According to a report in the South China Morning Post, the woman named Gao, had approached the cosmetic surgery hospital in Henan province of central China this January where she underwent the procedure.

Gao, according to the Chinese media house, could be reportedly seen in a video in which she is bandaged. After her discharge, Gao was taken aback when she discovered a video showing her along with many other women. The video is said to have been circulated on Douyin, which is China's TikTok.

Alleging that her privacy has been breached by making the video, Gao has contacted the Henan hospital and demanded that the person who filmed the video must be identified. She is also said to have asked the hospital authorities to delete the clip from social media.

Gao has also decided to sue the hospital.

NOTE: Deccan Herald could not find the video.

While Gao has further sought a compensation and an apology, the hospital allegedly denied to apologise stating that "the video was taken and posted by an external party".

"All surveillance footage is destroyed after three months, so tracing who took the video is impossible. It could only commit to coordinating with the social media platform to remove the video if it reappears online," South China Morning Post quoted the Henan hospital personnel as saying.

Gao, however, has argued that the operation theatre is a highly private setting, and the video showed the presence of only doctors and nurses, making it unlikely that an outsider would have filmed the video. To this, the hospital claimed that the person who recorded the clip showing Gao's surgery has left the hospital and that the individual's contact details have been erased from their systems or files.

Ma Bin, a lawyer from Tianxin Law Firm in Henan, central China, told the Shanghai Morning Post, "Posting videos online showing patients’ faces without their consent constitutes an infringement of privacy rights and image rights. Even if the video was produced by an external individual, the hospital remains responsible."

Irked by the response of the hospital, netizens took to social media and slammed the staff over the incident. “If the person who did the filming has left the job, any organisation could use this excuse to avoid responsibility, attributing it to individual employee actions,” said one person.

“Whenever something goes wrong, they say it was a temporary worker or someone who has left. They always shirk responsibility,” added another.