Exclusive Investigation of the hospital director on 'alleged illegal prescription of propofol'..."My wife died of addiction".

[Anchor]
Police are investigating the head of a famous hospital in Gangnam on charges of prescribing and administering drugs such as propofol to patients without properly recording them in medical records.

YTN coverage confirmed that the hospital director's wife died of propofol poisoning.

Reporter Yuh-hyun reports exclusively.

[Reporter]
This is the website of the Plastic Surgery and Dermatology Clinic in Cheongdam-dong, Seoul.

The head of a hospital in his 50s, who has operated this place for nearly 20 years, has been booked by the police on charges of violating the Narcotics Control Act and the Medical Law.

Mr. A is accused of prescribing and administering propofol to patients without recording it in his medical records at the clinic he was running.

A police official explained that A's medical records did not match the records of the drug administration system of the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety.

According to the police investigation, A has given propofol hundreds of times to more than 30 patients from February last year to April this year.

Mr. A was also charged with changing the posture of his wife, who was found dead at home in April, before the autopsy.

At that time, the police, who were dispatched after receiving a report of a death, requested an autopsy to the National Forensic Service, and the cause of death was confirmed to be propofol poisoning.

The police are also investigating two lawmakers who were operated by A on charges of violating the Narcotics Control Act.

The charges of prescribing drugs or falsely reporting medication records to the integrated drug management system of the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety when he was not a medical professional were applied.

Mr. A closed the clinic, which he had been operating for nearly 20 years, in June after the police investigation began, but he is now known to be treated at another clinic in Gangnam.

Amid repeated cases related to propofol prescription in hospitals, the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety is pushing to designate propofol as the so-called "no self-prescription" drug, which doctors or dentists cannot prescribe or administer on their own.

The police plan to hand over three people, including A, to the prosecution within this week.

Attention is also focusing on whether the investigation will expand on those who have administered propofol.

I'm YTN's YOSHIHYUN.

Filmmaker: Lee Soo-yeon, Jeong Jin-hyun
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: Lee Ga-eun