• The Korean Society of Law and Medicine
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• v.22 no.4
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• pp.185-210
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• 2021

On September 24, 2021, the new provisions(Article 38-2 of the Medical Service Act) mandatory CCTV installation in operating rooms where the unconscious patient is operating such as general anesthesia. The revised medical law aims to effectively prevent illegal activities that may occur in the operating rooms and to promote appropriate resolution to medical dispute. According to the law, medical institutions operating unconscious patients, such as general anesthesia, must install CCTVs in the operating rooms by September 25, 2023, and film surgical scenes only at the request of patients and their guardians, regardless of the consent of the medical personnel. The bill delegated the legislative device to minimize infringement of fundamental rights to subordinate statutes without stipulating it in the law.(Article 38-2(10)) The most realistic policy plan to minimize the infringement of the fundamental rights of patients is to prepare specific regulations. Therefore, this study examines the legislative background and main contents of the amended CCTV installation bill, and suggests issues to be reviewed when preparing subordinate statutes by analyzing major issues. It was reviewed based on compliance with the principle of minimizing infringement of fundamental rights of information subjects in the operating rooms. The information subjects of CCTV are health professionals and patients. Suggesting issues should be considered when preparing subordinate statutes so that the purpose of the CCTV installation law can be achieved while minimizing infringement of right of self-determination of personal information, personality rights, and human rights. It is hoped that this paper will be referred when discussing subordinate statutes and regulations to contribute minimizing infringement of fundamental rights.

• The Korean Society of Law and Medicine
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• v.20 no.1
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• pp.109-132
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• 2019

Recently, medical accidents related to surgical procedures have increased. In addition, the media reported that some of these accidents were involved in health crimes. Patient-advocate groups have called for mandatory establishment and management of CCTV in operating rooms. There is a lot of discussion among the interested parties, so it is necessary to review the relevant laws and regulations. The purpose of this study is to identify the characteristics of CCTV in operating rooms and to review legislations related to establishment and management of the CCTV in operating rooms. Medical institutions use CCTV for management of facilities and patient safety and install it in operating rooms optionally. The Constitution guarantees the privacy and the privacy of correspondence of every citizen, but it can be limited by the law for public welfare. Currently, however, there is no existing law about establishment and management of the CCTV in operating rooms and it can be defect of legal system. Under the current legislations, it is likely that the Self-determination can be violated due to the characteristic of healthcare provider when CCTV is mandatorily installed in operating room. In addition, the regulations on access and leakage of confidential information known by operator are insufficient. So that, the safety of the visual data might be threatened. Furthermore, unless the period and the place of storage of the visual data are clearly defined, it is highly unlikely to meet the original purpose of patient safety and prevention of medical accidents. This study is meaningful as there is few previous study on this topic although the need for legal review about this is growing and several bills are being proposed. It is expected that the results of this study can be utilized as basic data for enactment or amendment of the laws and regulations about establishment and management of CCTV in operating rooms.

• 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.

• Korean Journal of Legislative Studies
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• v.27 no.2
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• pp.167-175
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• 2021

• The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
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• v.21 no.3
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• pp.634-644
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• 2021

Despite the increased social demand for strengthening the punishment for ghost surgery in Korea, the governmental management is very passive compared to other offenses of medical law, and the punishment for ghost surgery is insufficient, so that medical malpractices are continuously occurring. A plastic surgeon who posted the names of clinics performing ghost surgery and the number of deaths on the internet bulletin board, was charged with the violation of the Information Telecommunication Act(defamation). Thus, this study aimed to present the legal/institutional issues and implications of defamation by the release of ghost surgery, by initially examining the charged case after posting the contents showing the death of patients by ghost surgery in clinics on the internet bulletin board. This study aimed to understand how strictly the court approached the ghost surgery in the aspect of public interest, and also to understand the judgment standard of punishment for defamation by investigating the publicly alleging facts and public interest by the disclosure of ghost surgery. Moreover, this study aims to provide the basic data necessary for guaranteeing the national health right by arousing attention to ghost surgery.