A young doctor who received massive backlash over his problematic TikTok last week is facing serious consequences for putting content above professional decency, following a hearing by the Indonesian Medical Association (IDI).
After a series of ethics trials, IDI has stated that the medical ethics violation, carried out by Kevin Samuel Marpaung, was categorized as “minor to moderate.” M. Yadi Permana, who heads IDI’s South Jakarta chapter, said in a press conference today that Kevin owned up to his mistake and promised not to violate medical ethics again.
As a consequence of his reckless video, Kevin has been suspended from medical practice for the next six months.
In the 15-second TikTok video, Kevin simulated an examination of cervical dilation prior to childbirth, along with texts of a made-up conversation with a midwife who “asked” him to perform the check on a patient.
Hold my beer pic.twitter.com/Ws8HPgi6PI
— sisice (@JakaWiradinata) April 16, 2021
Set to house music, Kevin then put on his come-hither face, pointing his index and middle fingers upward before appearing to enjoy the vaginal examination — which he described as an “awkward moment.” The video ended with Kevin telling the imaginary midwife that the cervix was dilated to three centimeters while bobbing his head.
In real life, the process involves a midwife or doctor inserting two fingers into the mother’s vagina to estimate how dilated the cervix is and determine whether or not she’s ready for labor.
Kevin’s TikTok incited backlash from the public as well as women’s rights groups, including the Civil Society Coalition Against Sexual Violence (Kompaks) and the National Commission on Violence Against Women (Komnas Perempuan). In their respective statements, both groups pushed for IDI to revoke Kevin’s license and argued that he had violated the doctor’s oath as well as medical ethics, stressing that doctors should make female patients feel safe during treatment.
Following the controversy, Kevin appears to have deleted his TikTok account but published an apology video over the weekend.
“I, doctor Kevin, would like to apologize profusely for my video content regarding cervical dilation, in which I wasn’t careful in choosing the soundtrack and putting on a facial expression that appears to be [sexually] harassing,” Kevin said in the video.
