Video emerges of Chinese cosmetic surgery owner beating client for seeking a refund for botched eye surgery
- In the video, the owner of the clinic can be heard demanding the client withdraw a formal complaint made to authorities about her eye surgery
- The company is not authorised to perform cosmetic surgery on national business registration platform
Police in eastern China detained the owner of a cosmetic surgery clinic after a video of her beating a client and making threats emerged online.
The incident occurred when the client complained about a failed eye surgery to the local market supervision authority and sought a refund from Xiyue Cosmetic Surgery clinic in Jinan, in eastern China’s Shandong province, Red Star News reported.
In the video, the owner of the clinic, identified only by the surname Liu, and two staff snatched the mobile phone of the client, surnamed An, when they saw she was calling the police.
As An tried to leave the premises, Liu stopped her and forced her to sit down and sign an agreement to settle the dispute.
“After you sign the agreement, you should call the market authority to withdraw your complaint. Only after you finish calling the authorities will I let you go,” Liu said in the video.
“If you say a word to the market authority that does not satisfy me, I will slap your face, you know?
“Your complaint brought me trouble. Do you think I will let you leave Jinan alive?” she said.
Liu was detained and charged with illegal imprisonment, local police said on Thursday.
Two of her employees, surnamed Qu and Sun, have been charged with the same offence but have been released on bail.
It is unclear who shot the video and uploaded it to social media.
Xiyue Cosmetic Surgery released a statement on Weibo on Tuesday denying there had been a problem with An’s surgery and that a refund was not warranted. The company accused An of damaging its reputation and claimed she was a well known “troublemaker at hospitals” and claimed she had a team helping her hype up the incident online.
Authorities ordered the clinic to stop operations after the scandal came to light.
A check of the national business registration platform Tianyan showed that Xiyue’s scope of business does not include cosmetic surgery and it does not have a medical institution licence, Red Star News reported.
