How to Confirm Who Performs Your Procedure in Gangnam

Whether a clinic's director performs your treatment personally is not something a homepage photo settles. It is confirmed in the consultation record, by name. Ask who touches each step of the procedure, whose name appears on your consent form as the main treating physician, and how you would be notified if that person changed.

I am Dr. Kim Yeonjin, director at UH CELL Clinic's Gangnam location. The question I hear most often from patients traveling from overseas is some version of "will you be the one doing this." It is a fair question, and in Korea it is also a question the law has already answered in part.

What the Law Actually Draws the Line At

Korea's Medical Service Act, Article 27, Paragraph 1, states that no one other than a licensed medical professional may perform a medical procedure, and that even a licensed professional may not perform procedures outside the scope of their license. That is the baseline. The harder question is what counts as "performing" when a nurse or aesthetician is also in the room, and Korea's Supreme Court has drawn that line in a specific way.

In its December 2022 ruling on Case No. 2017Do10007, the Supreme Court held that when a physician has not given individual instructions or delegated a specific act to a nurse, and the nurse instead independently decides whether to carry out the procedure with no instruction or involvement from the physician during that process, the act constitutes unlicensed medical practice. In an earlier ruling, Case No. 2002Do2014, the same court took the opposite position on the reverse scenario: a nurse assisting under a physician's direction and supervision is lawful. Put simply, the deciding factor is not whether another person's hands are ever involved. It is whether the physician is the one directing the procedure and individually instructing or supervising each step, or whether someone else is deciding on their own whether and how to proceed.

This distinction exists because cosmetic and anti-aging treatments almost always involve more than one person in the room, an assistant preparing the treatment area is routine and lawful. What the ruling clarifies is the boundary between assisting and directing, and that boundary is exactly what a patient should be asking about before treatment, not after.

What You Are Entitled to Ask, and Why the Law Already Requires an Answer

Article 24-2 of the Medical Service Act requires that, for surgery, blood transfusion, and general anesthesia, a physician must explain a defined set of items to the patient and obtain written consent. Among those required disclosures is the name of the physician providing the explanation and the name of the main physician participating in the procedure. Most injectable and energy-based aesthetic procedures fall outside this article's strict scope, since they are not surgery, transfusion, or general anesthesia. But the same standard of disclosure is reasonable to expect in any consultation, and a patient is entitled to ask for it directly.

Three questions cover what the statute requires for the procedures it does govern, and what a patient can reasonably expect for the ones it does not:

• Whose name is on the diagnosis and treatment plan
• Who physically handles each stage, numbing, injection, or energy-device application
• What happens, and how you are notified, if the physician originally assigned to your case changes

How I Handle This in Consultation

I walk through these three points with every patient before we begin, not after a question is raised. Diagnosis and treatment planning are mine, and if a patient wants to confirm anything again at any point in the visit, I expect that question and answer it directly. UH CELL Clinic's Gangnam location has Japanese, Chinese, and English-speaking interpreter staff on site, so this confirmation does not have to happen in a second language for most of the international patients we see.

FAQ

Can the physician who consults with me be different from the physician who performs the procedure?

Yes, and the law anticipates this directly. Article 24-2, Paragraph 2, Item 3 requires the consent record to separately list the name of the physician giving the explanation and the name of the main physician participating in the procedure, which only makes sense if the statute expects these can be two different people. If they are different in your case, you should be told both names.

Do aesthetic procedures require a written consent form the same way surgery does?

The written consent requirement under Article 24-2 applies specifically to surgery, blood transfusion, and general anesthesia. Most injectable and device-based aesthetic treatments fall outside that specific requirement. That said, being told about expected side effects and pre- and post-procedure precautions, and having that documented, gives both the patient and the clinic something concrete to refer back to if a question comes up later.

What if the physician I booked with changes on the day of my appointment?

Article 24-2, Paragraph 4 requires that if the main physician participating in the procedure changes from what was originally agreed to, the clinic must notify the patient in writing of the reason and the change. If you are in a situation where your assigned physician is being swapped without that kind of notice, it is reasonable to pause and ask for confirmation before the procedure begins.