Hanoi police completed their second investigation on Saturday into a cosmetic surgeon’s alleged disposal of a patient’s body following a fatal breast enlargement surgery in 2013.
According to the latest investigation released by the police, Nguyen Manh Tuong, owner of the Cat Tuong cosmetic surgery clinic, may be eligible for up to 20 years in prison for defiling a corpse and medical malpractice.
A previous investigation into the case, which was rejected by a Hanoi court four months ago, would have resulted in a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison for the same violations.
The court called for the second investigation due to a lack of details in the first findings. Le Thi Thanh Huyen's missing body was the biggest hole in the case when the court threw out the initial findings in April.
On August 5, investigators confirmed that Huyen's body had been recovered at the north end of the Red River.
Police matched a body fished out of the river on July 18 by locals to DNA samples taken from Huyen's father, mother and the eldest son, according to Senior Lieutenant-Colonel Vo Hong Phuong, deputy head of the Hanoi Police’s Social Crime Investigation Department.
Huyen, 39, allegedly died on October 19, 2013 after undergoing a liposuction and breast enlargement surgery at the Cat Tuong Beauty Clinic, run by Nguyen Manh Tuong, 41, also a physician at the capital's state-owned Bach Mai Hospital.