South Korea’s health authorities are investigating a number of health care workers who allegedly had a birthday party in an operating room in the middle of a surgical procedure at a plastic surgery clinic in southern Seoul.

The workers’ misconduct became known to the public after one of the nurse assistants shared photos of the party on her Instagram account.

In the photos, the staff are eating cookies and hamburgers in the operating room, posing with breast implants used for mammoplasties, and holding a fully lit birthday cake while their patient lies down in the background.

In one of the photo captions, the nurse assistant also mentions the clinic’s surgeon who is suspected of having allowed his staff to eat in the operating room.

According to the Korean Nurses Association, the biggest representative body of nurses in Korea, no nurse was involved in the particular misconduct that day.

“We spoke to the clinic and it has been confirmed that only nurse assistants were involved with the ‘party’ in the operating room,” said Baek Chan-gi from the organization.

Under Korea’s medical service act, when a health care worker has committed an act “gravely impairing the dignity of a medical person,” the health minister may suspend the person’s license for up to one year.

The nurse assistant deleted her Instagram account after the photos went viral and received public criticism.

By Claire Lee (dyc@heraldcorp.com)