A woman in China received the shock of her life after discovering a secretly filmed video of her breast implant surgery circulating online, five months after the operation. According to the South China Morning Post (SCMP), the woman, surnamed Goa, underwent a breast enlargement procedure at a cosmetic surgery hospital in central China in January. Months later, she was shocked to discover a video of herself, alongside several other women, circulating on the Chinese social media platform Douyin. The clip reportedly showed Ms Goa post-surgery, heavily bandaged and still under anaesthesia.
Speaking about the incident, Ms Gao said that her privacy has been severely violated. As per SCMP, she said that she has repeatedly contacted the hospital to demand that the person who did the filming be identified and the video be deleted. She has also asked the hospital authorities to make a public apology and pay her compensation.
However, the hospital has refused to apologise, saying that the video was taken and shared on social media by an "external" party. All surveillance footage is destroyed after three months, so tracing who took the video is impossible, the hospital said, adding that it could only commit to coordinating with the social media platform to remove the video if it reappears online.
But Ms Gao insisted that the hospital should be able to identify the person who filmed the video. She argued that the operating theatre is a highly private setting, and the clip clearly showed the presence of doctors and nurses, making it highly unlikely that an outsider would have been able to enter and film.
The hospital then reportedly claimed that the person who recorded the video had since left the hospital and that they had deleted their contact information.
Ms Gao has decided to sue the hospital.
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Meanwhile, this response from the hospital has caused an outcry online. "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.
Speaking about the incident, Ma Bin, a lawyer from Tianxin Law Firm in Henan, 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, the lawyer added.
