kjj Posted April 8, 2014 Share Posted April 8, 2014 Hi Shinyglittery: Thank you for your support. To answer your question: I am a Korean Canadian. I left Korea almost 40 years ago when I was only a child. I do speak fluent Korean but my writing is not the best. When I received the judgement of 2000,000 Won (about $2000), I was not totally satisfied but nevertheless felt relieved. But, as I mentioned before, Dr. Kim and BK refused to accept the outcome. Unfortunately, The Korean Consumer Agency does not have the legal authority to force BK to pay me which is rather disappointing. It seems the objective of The Korean Consumer Agency is to appeal on conscience and reasons of the business owners who in most cases do the right thing by accepting the judgements handed down to them. This hasn't happened with Dr. Kim and BK Hospital. All is not lost however. I was told that the outcome of this judgement will be considered in court proceedings which is a real plus. We are planning a family vacation in Korea next year. If the timing is right, I will be able to get the court proceeding underway at that time. I feel for all the women who have experienced what I have gone through... It is a very painful, life changing trauma. I believe Dr. Kim has failed, as a plastic surgeon, in three different ways: 1. He did not thoroughly explain the procedures to me. 2. He did not follow the instructions and did not care what I, the patient, wanted. 3. After he botched my left eye, he refused to own up and at least try to correct the mistake that has devastated me. Arrogance! Such a bad trait in a doctor... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shinyglittery Posted April 12, 2014 Share Posted April 12, 2014 KJJ: I wish you all the best and I hope the court will rule in your favor. It will be a victory for everyone that doctor has hurt (and there are a lot of people whose faces he ruined). I wish more people would try to fight these doctors, try to do something... even if it's really hard... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ladybugz Posted April 12, 2014 Share Posted April 12, 2014 Wow. This is such a disgusting injustice. I hope you are able to get your money back someday. In the meantime, you should post as many reviews of your experience as possible online, including both American and Asian websites and boards. Email your local newspapers as well as national ones to pitch your story. Sometimes social media is the best way to get justice in this day and age. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ujcnb Posted April 13, 2014 Share Posted April 13, 2014 Hi everyone, I have been out of this forum for a long while and read about the Korean Canadian's bad experience in BK. I had rhinoplasty and breast augmentation in BK 2 years ago. I can confirm some things shared by people here. Yes, I was also brought to a consultant before seeing Dr Kim Byung Gun. I'd requested for him when I was still in Singapore. I told the consultant right away the procedures I wanted. It was a hefty sum to pay so in was asked to add on more procedures. Dr Kim saw me only briefly. He didn't discuss the procedures with me. Neither did he examine my face in detail. The consultant told him what I wanted, he touched my chin, tilted my face to see my nose, 5 seconds? that was it. I was uneasy when I left the room. I didn't feel safe. I called my husband and told him Dr Kim was very cold and I wasn't told much, except something along the line of 'relax, don't worry, everything will be ok'. Like everyone who want a procedure done, even a meet up with Dr Kim, you'd be asked to pay a deposit of 10% in advance. I'd paid this and thought if I backed out how, I would lose 1300 USD. Yes, my surgery cost 13K. My husband is in the medical line, he said it's ok if the doctor is not communicative, for plastic surgery he needs to have the skills. I agreed and went on. After Dr Kim I saw another doctor. He was the one who drew the lines on me for the breast augmentation. He was assuring and answered all my questions. I laid on the operating table, many nurses were around with masks over their faces. One lady cane over and injected in my arm and I slept. I didn't see Dr Kim before I slept. I really don't know who did my procedures in the end. I woke up feeling surprisingly energetic. I had a lot of pain from the BA. I couldn't even move my arms. Could only lay still. Didn't know the BA hurt this much. No nausea. Beside me was another pushable bed. The wake-up room was small, even cramped. The room beside had 3 girls. One had her whole face fully bandaged. I went to the toilet and saw a girl pushing her own drip stand to rinse her mouth with antiseptic. She looked like she just had her op done. Dr Kim came after a while. It took me a while to realise that he was walking into my room. As there's this other girl beside me I wasn't sure if he's coming for me or her. I just looked at him. He came in swiftly, went towards me as I was looking at him, then pushed his hands down on my chest damn hard, turned and walked away! I screamed in pain. If you've done BA before you'd know what excruciating pain this was. I think Dr Kim is a man of great pride. He probably felt I should have acknowledged his presence like everyone there, crying out the Korean greeting in unisance each time he enters a room. He came. He saw me. Even 'touched' me. He left. He 'did' his job. He neither check my nose nor did he look at my breasts. He was supposed to have done both these procedures! After Dr Kim came the doctor who consulted me for my breasts. He Told me my surgery was a success. Even told me 'you have very beautiful breasts now!' He smiled, was friendly and answered my questions. My feeling tells me he was the doctor who did my breasts. He consulted with me, drew on me and checked me after that. This doctor, not Dr Kim, as I had requested, did my breast augmentation. Now, this begs the other question: who then, did my nose? Seriously, I don't know that till this day. I can only tell you that my implant is slanted. I felt cheated. I called Dr Kim and emailed him my photos. He acknowledged and offered to redo for free when my swelling goes away. When he was in Singapore for consultation to get more patients, I saw him again. He was very impressed with my breasts. He confirmed to redo my nose. When my breasts hurt badly after returning I also called him. As I couldn't reach him on the mobile number on the website, he rang back. He said he had a missed call. He answered my questions and wasn't pushy. On the phone and in person after the surgery, it was a completely different Dr Kim than the other I met before the surgery. Before the surgery he was cold, distant, in a rush. I think he was completely busy and strained from the appointments in his clinic! Everyone wants him. How can he do surgery and vibist and yet fly all over China and HK Indonesia Malaysia every weekend on top of that? This man is completely burnt out! In Singapore during the face-to-face consultation, I wanted an assurance my breasts were healing well and he's doing my nose again. I got that. He spent time I expected of him. In retrospect, I wouldn't have paid the ten percent deposit. Once you put that kind of money down, you feel like you make the trip all the way there, booked a hotel and then you want to get it done. The decision to do it already took up a lot of energy and time, I didn't want any more delays. I was lucky with my breasts. They turn out really well. So it's a blessing in disguise I got that other doctor. I think it wasn't Dr Kim, but another doctor, who did my nose. Look up the BK website and see the team of doctors he has. If everyone wants Dr Kim, these doctors wouldn't be there. At the follow up reviews when the nurses cleaned my wounds, I'd ask many questions. They'd look at my card to answer my questions. I think it's 'written' that Dr Kim is my surgeon. But I am very convinced he didn't operate on my breasts. I don't know if he did my nose. If he did, then he really did a bad job. I would expect a slanted implant from a star plastic surgeon. I didn't go back to redo my nose because I've migrated to Europe. I may come back to his offer later, I don't know. I am also doubtful if this will be good. But if I do, I want to make sure I get to talk to him outside of his clinic. At the face-to-face consultation he was nice and took the time I needed. I would tell him I wasn't sure he did my nose and for the redo I want him to do it and a good job. I am still afraid the rhino revision won't be ideal. I have only one face. If I don't feel assured, I would rather pay another doctor to straighten my implant than save the money. A revision is more complicated than if you do it the first time, I read. I did another procedure after BK in another Asian country and the treatment was worked apart. I had my own luxurious hospital room that looked like a hotel. The nurses were so sweet to me. They even numb the area before they pricked me to insert the IV. BK is indeed mass production. You see the operation theatres. The Korean nurses that tended to me when I awoke from my GA were harsh and didn't speak English. It was in the early hours of the morning and no English speaking nurses were there yet. I was in pain and very helpless. Couldn't even reach my phone to call my family. In contrast, in the other country I was treated like the queen. It's been two years since. The final swelling for my nose took a year to subside. I don't regret doing both procedures. Even though the nose implant to slanted it still looks better than my completely flat nose before with wide-spread nostrils. I was laughed at a lot by family and friends alike. I have breasts the way they were before I breast fed my two children. Breast feeding was great, it's the best and I would still never give bottle milk if I have another baby now, but breast feeding literally took my breasts away. I went from a 34C to 32B. Now I'm a C cup again and and my husband and I are both happy. I hope readers glean some insights from my sharing and can make right decisions for themselves. I wish you all good decisions in choosing the right hospital and doctor. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shinyglittery Posted April 13, 2014 Share Posted April 13, 2014 UJCNB thank you for sharing what i believe to be an honest account of your experience. it's good to hear from different people. i would never pay a deposit just to see (have a consultation with) a doctor. nobody should ever do that and your story shows the reason why. you felt like you should go ahead because you'd already paid the deposit even though you weren't really comfortable going ahead. what if it wasn't slightly wrong? what if it was a completely horrible result that would make you want to kill yourself? but you felt like going ahead because you already paid the deposit. that's why no one should pay a deposit before they have a consultation. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pkay Posted April 14, 2014 Share Posted April 14, 2014 Hi KJJ: thanks so much for sharing your experience and letting other people know that they can actually take the matters further if they get a bad job done and not to let the dr. get away with it . i just had a question: for you to actually go to the [FONT="]Korean Consumer Agency you must have had papers that showed what you agreed upon before the surgery right ? i mean here is where i get confused as to how to protect yourself when getting a surgery in korea. if your paying in cash, as you go to your consults and agree on what procedures you want and whom to do them , you then agree upon the amount to pay ...... what actually happens next , do you get a written paper with what your having done and how much you paid or is it all just by word of mouth ? i really wish you success in court and let us know how it goes , i hope that more and more foreigners talk up about bad dr. and also the ridiculous amounts of money some clinics demand .[/FONT] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pkay Posted April 14, 2014 Share Posted April 14, 2014 UJCNB thanks for sharing ,its really nice hearing honest and detailed experiences. i wish you all the best in getting your nose fixed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
milktoki Posted April 14, 2014 Share Posted April 14, 2014 Hello KJJ, I am a Korean American living in the US. I am highly interested in pursuing a lawsuit against my revision eyelid surgeon, Dr. Lee Hee Moon of Eye Magic. He performed noon mae gyo jung and double eyelid revision 1.5 years ago. Since then, my eyes cannot close completely and this has led to severe dry eye syndrome. My vision is highly compromised, I have many dry spots on my cornea, and this can lead to permanent eye damage. In addition to the functional problems, I am not completely happy with my aesthetic results. One eye is very sleepy looking and the other is wide eyed. The folds were not as low as they wanted them to be either. However, the medical problems that arose are the most concerning. It has been a hellish 1.5 years and I don't know when things will end. I have missed so many opportunities because of my eyes. I seek a full refund as compensation, but even that won't begin to cover the missed opportunities and life he stole from me. To think that I paid an exorbitant amount of money (was a college student at the time) to have surgery with him adds further insult to injury. It gets expensive having to always buy eye drops, night ointment, eye doctor appointments, and I had to quit my job because my eyes were causing so much problems for me. He has continued to ignore me and even goes so far as to deleting my private posts for help on his consultation page. The fact that he was so cocky saying "I am the best in Korea" at consultation should have sent red flags. He has shown his true colors to me; he is truly evil personified. I have heard he was blacklisted for being greedy and botched procedures. Of course I found out about all this after my surgery. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shinyglittery Posted April 14, 2014 Share Posted April 14, 2014 milktoki your story makes me so sad i can't imagine how you've suffered because of this please get it fixed as soon as you can, it would be horrible if you suffered permanent damage to your vision because of this... i really hope you get justice. this experience too proves how important it is to do your research and also not to trust cocky doctors... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kjj Posted April 14, 2014 Share Posted April 14, 2014 Hi Milktoki, I am so sorry that this has happened to you. Based on your description, your symptoms seem more severe than mine. The fact that the eyes don't close and the vision has been compromised sound really scary. Such problems would limit a person's ability to function in everyday life. If you can prove that this was caused during the surgery, your compensation should be a lot more than the cost of the surgery. The Korean Consumer Agency is a good place to try and see how your case will be viewed and determined. There is no cost involved and they seem to take each complaint very seriously. It helps if you can read and write Korean but this is not necessary. Everything was done through emails; I never had to call them. Let me go over the initial steps I took to get the judgement for anybody who maybe interested: 1. I googled The Korean Consumer Agency and found their website. Filled out the complaint form. I asked them to respond by email and left my email address. 2. A case worker was assigned and she emailed to me in English. After I told her I can read and write Korean, she responded in Korean but I continued to write back in English. I sent her all my email correspondences with Dr. Kim, the recent photos, old photos and my doctor's note in Canada. 3. She also requested all the necessary info from BK hospital and received them. I posted previously what happened after that... While the judgement is not legal binding, it will help you to understand how other surgeons, lawyers, business owners view your case with compensation amount they feel appropriate. After that you can decide if it is worth it to take the case to court. By the way, I found out that I could represent myself in court...this is a good thing since I don't have to find a lawyer. The bad thing is that it will take 6 months to 2 years to bring the case to court. This timing may not work for me.... It really bothers me that Dr. Kim Byung Gun could damage my left eye, ignore the judgement and get away with it. Whatever you decide, I hope you take the right steps that would eventually lead you to find peace in your life. Good Luck! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
milktoki Posted April 14, 2014 Share Posted April 14, 2014 Thank you for your well wishes. So glad we have forums like these so people are more informed, but even still people need to be wary and be able to distinguish between authentic posts and ones from patients or staff paid to leave glowing reviews and recommendations. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kjj Posted April 14, 2014 Share Posted April 14, 2014 To Pkay: I paid the surgery by my credit card so I don't know what the hospital procedures are for the cash paying patients. I do believe they give you a receipt ...if they do not then you should ask for it in writing. As for the surgery itself, the consultant writes down what surgery you want and how you want it done but you do not get the copy of this. I suppose you could try asking. But the fact is, it is impossible to write down every detail as to what and how you want done. Most people only know how they want to look...They don't know what is involved in the surgery to look that way. They trust that the surgeon knows what he is doing. Isn't that the reason we pay the big bucks? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shinyglittery Posted April 14, 2014 Share Posted April 14, 2014 you're right, we need to be so so careful about reading reviews and careful not to think "now I know for sure which clinics are great" because there's always the chance that you were wrong... and I've also learned how important it is to trust your impression from reading so many stories about people's experiences. almost all the posts where someone had bad results include something like "I felt the doctor was too cocky/distant/not interested enough/didn't listen... but i had the surgery anyway". it's so sad because there are so many things that can make us think we should go ahead with the surgery anyway but really we shouldn't, it's important to listen to your feelings... i'm also glad we have forums like this, i would never ever have been able to go to korea and not have my face ruined if this forum didn't exist, i've learned so much here, this forum has also taught me to look for more information and to dig deeper and not think if it looks good on the surface it's all good. it doesn't feel good to feel you can't trust anyone or anything but it keeps you careful enough so that you learn to see which reviews are real and which are fake, maybe not perfectly but well enough and in the end you can make the best decisions you can. it's so great that we can share information with each other and help and support each other, i think we'd all be lost without it... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shinyglittery Posted April 14, 2014 Share Posted April 14, 2014 Thank you so much for this additional information! It's really good to know you don't necessarily need a lawyer. though i don't know how helpful it is for people who don't speak Korean well, but if a translator is cheaper than a lawyer, it might work out? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
milktoki Posted April 15, 2014 Share Posted April 15, 2014 Thank you so much for the informative reply. I knew that there was a new arbitration law in effect for foreigners but I was dismayed to find that the agency (Korean Medical Association?) cannot actually legally enforce it on the clinics. It is entirely up to the clinics to decide whether or not they want to hear the case. It makes me angry to know that still the patients have very little bargaining power against these criminals. I will look into the Korean Consumer Agency today and fill out the necessary paperwork. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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