• The Korean Society of Law and Medicine
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• v.22 no.2
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• pp.111-138
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• 2021

'Unlicensed medical practice by a non-medical practitioner' often represented by surrogate surgery or so-called 'ghost surgery,' causes irreparable damage to life or body, and therefore calls for very strict and effective controls. The 'bill on installment of CCTVs in an operating room' to prevent unlicensed surrogate surgery has been discussed for a long time, but due to numerous issues and heated confrontations, it has been pending in the National Assembly. Nevertheless, it is expected that the bill will be discussed again in earnest in the National Assembly because surrogate surgery and factory-type cosmetic surgery, which has been performed mainly in the field of cosmetic surgery, has also been occurring in the field of therapeutic surgery. In general, an operating room is considered as being locked or closed, as well as disallowing implicit complicity among insiders. Hence, if the insiders conspire to commit or cover up an illegal act, or if a surgeon performs rapid cosmetic surgery and then leaves the recipient (or medical institution) so as to perform more operations for profit - even if it is legitimate practice - it may result in serious consequences in terms of the recovery of a patient. In this case, installation of CCTVs can be of great help in identifying an illegal act and assessing any occurrence of negligence. On the other hand, while the fundamental purpose of therapeutic surgery is to restore a patient's life or body - that is, lifesaving - installation of CCTVs may base the relationship between a surgeon and a patient on distrust and surveillance, so it may increase the number of requests for CCTV footage or lead to more disputes, as well as placing a burden on the surgeon when best results are not achieved for a patient. As a result, the surgeon may choose non-invasive treatment contrary to conscience instead of risky but necessary surgery, or he/she may have significant difficulty in determining the timing of surgery, which may limit the provision of effective surgical medical care. Then, in terms of the relationship between a surgeon and patient, and in the long run, there could be significant disadvantages for the public and patients if CCTV footage is allowed. In this paper, we review domestic and overseas cases and issues regarding installation of CCTVs in an operating room, and present various viewpoints and suggestions to promote legislation with minimized legal problems and side effects, thereby contributing to protection of the lives and health of the public, patients, and recipients of surgery.

• Journal of Chest Surgery
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• v.29 no.10
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• pp.1123-1128
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• 1996

A clinical study was performed on 152 cases of surgical esophageal disease treated by the Department of Thoracic & Cardiovascular Surgery of Korea University Hospital from Jan. 1989 through July 1994. The most common esophageal disease was cancer which was seen in 73 cases (48%) among 152 cases. All were treated surgically' 52 patients (71%) were managed by curative or palliative resection with reconstruction and feeding gastrostomy or jejunostomy, otherwise Celestine tube insertion was performed on the remaining 21 patients for palliatio'n. Esophageal leiomyoma occurred in 6 cases(3.9%), among them 1 case was performed with trio recoscopic enucleation . Achalasia were in 7 cases (4.6%) and was treated with modified Heller's m otomy and with Belsey Mark IV operation. Diverticulum were in 11 cases (7.2%). Esophageal stricture occurred in 20 cases (14.1 %) and 17 of 20 cases were managed with bypass surgery. Esophageal perforation was seen in 20 cases, its cause was instrumental trauma in 7 cases, stab wound in 4 cases, foreign body in 4 cases, spontaneous perforation in 3 cases, and others 1 case Other disease including congenital lesion was seen In 1 Scases.