Miyeon, 29, a member of the K-pop group (G)I-DLE, has come under fire over a possible medical advertising law violation after posting a YouTube video documenting her health checkup.
According to multiple entertainment outlets Tuesday, a complaint was filed with the Yongsan-gu Public Health Center in Seoul through the government's online civil petition portal on Monday.
The complaint calls for a review of whether the video, posted to YouTube on Sept. 1, constitutes medical advertising under the current Medical Service Act. It cites the video's identification of a specific medical institution along with its staff and facilities.
Earlier, the YouTube channel Jeondosa posted a video showing Miyeon undergoing a health checkup for the first time in her life.
The video captured the entire process of Miyeon's checkup, from filling out a medical questionnaire at a medical facility to undergoing an upper endoscopy.
The issue was that the video also showed Miyeon being administered a sedative for the endoscopy and footage of the endoscope being inserted into her mouth. Although the scenes were mosaic-blurred, the footage included more of the procedure, both before and after, than was necessary.
In addition, the video showed the name of the medical institution, the faces of its medical staff and its interior facilities in full view. It also included a phrase describing the institution as a "health checkup center specializing in gastric and colon endoscopy."
The complainant, identified only as A, wrote in the petition that "the content exposed the name of a specific medical institution, its medical staff, facilities, information related to their expertise, the administration of a sedative, and the actual upper endoscopy procedure." A also asked authorities to determine whether the content constitutes medical advertising under the Medical Service Act, who the actual advertiser is, and to what extent the medical institution was involved in producing or filming the video.
In addition, A pointed out that the video described the institution as a "specialized hospital." According to health care provider records, however, the facility is classified not as a specialized hospital but as a clinic. A asked officials to also assess whether the institution's name and the term "specialized hospital" used in the video were appropriate.
Article 56 of the Medical Service Act restricts anyone who is not the founder or head of a medical institution, or a licensed medical professional, from advertising medical services.
According to the Ministry of Health and Welfare's guidelines on medical advertising, content can be classified as medical advertising even if it is not a typical paid advertisement, as long as it conveys information about medical procedures, institutions or personnel to consumers.
betterj@heraldcorp.com
