Chinese woman finds her breast implant surgery video online; decides to sue hospital

This incident has caused an outrage on social media platforms.

Date: July 20, 2024

Five months after the operation, a woman from China discovered that she was secretly filmed during the breast implant surgery. This shocking incident came to light after the video went viral online.

As per reports, the woman, surnamed Gao, underwent a breast enlargement procedure at a cosmetic surgery hospital in central China in January. Months later, she found a video of herself, alongside several other women, circulating on the Chinese social media platform Douyin. The clip reportedly showed Gao post-surgery, heavily bandaged and still under anaesthesia.

According to media reports, 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 as her privacy has been severely violated. However, the hospital has refused to apologize, saying that the video was taken and shared on social media by an ‘external’ party.

Explaining further, hospital authorities said that all surveillance footage is destroyed after three months, so tracing who took the video is impossible. They could only commit to coordinating with the social media platform to remove the video if it reappears online.

But 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.

In response to this, the hospital claimed that the person who recorded the video had since left the hospital and that they had deleted their contact information. Therefore, Gao has decided to sue the hospital. Moreover, this incident has caused outrage over social media platforms.