• Journal of Arbitration Studies
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• v.32 no.4
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• pp.3-31
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• 2022

In the past, there has not been a law with the main purpose of preventing or preventing a risk in advance in order to protect the safety of patients in relation to medical services. It is evaluated that the enactment of the Patient Safety Act has a very important meaning in protecting patient safety as the top priority and further improving the quality of medical care. However, looking at the status of patient safety accidents reported to the Patient Safety Reporting System after the Patient Safety Act was enacted and implemented, various types of risk factors for patient safety still exist in the medical field. Meanwhile, Korea Consumer Agency and Korea Medical Dispute Mediation and Arbitration Agency, the existing domestic ADR specialized agencies, have been operating reasonable damage relief procedures such as recommendation of settlement, mediation, and arbitration according to the purpose of their establishment. Therefore, with the aimof broadening the choice of compensation system for patients, we propose the establishment and revision of ADR-related laws to apply the damage relief procedures of both institutions.

• The Korean Society of Law and Medicine
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• v.7 no.2
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• pp.219-268
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• 2006

In July 1989, Korea had achieved the national medical insurance system comprehensively covering the whole population since its inception of 12 years before, and subsequently the plural medical insurers had integrated to the unique health insurer system in July 2000. But there yet remain some problems to be improved under low contributions rates and poor benefit packages, especially the shortage of assuring beneficiaries' rights. The Health Insurance Appeal System is composed of a two-tiered system of committee. The Formal Objection Committees built in the National Health Insurance Corporation and in the Health Insurance Review Agency respectively examine the formal objections to the decisions of the Corporation, or the Review Agency. And the Dispute Mediation Committee built under the command of the Minister of Health and Welfare reviews the protests against the decisions on the formal objections by each Formal Objection Committee. To cope with the appellant in relation to the administration on the qualification of the insureds, contributions, and insurance benefits etc, is found to be unsatisfactory. There's the reason of poor function on right-relief caused by the loose composition of the Appeal Committee, the deficit of people's recognition and P.R., the lack of professional manpower and the Committee's independency, and time lag in making decisions and so on. Consequently the Appeal System should be improved to secure the rights-relief function, to empower the professionalism of the Appeal Committee, to strengthen P.R. for the beneficiaries, to build up the staff's proficiency through training, and to develop the quality of administrative services.

• Korea Journal of Hospital Management
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• v.11 no.1
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• pp.1-30
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• 2006

According to the available data, in these days, the number of medical accidents and disputes have significantly increased since 1990 in Korea. From this aspect, a variety of approaches and efforts to solve these problems is needed before it is too late. This study intended to identify the thoughts of patients who are directly connected with medical accidents and disputes and then to consider reasonable settlement methods of the increasing disputes. For achieving the purpose of this study, the self-administerd questionnaire was conducted with 450 out-patients who visited three university hospitals, five small and medium-sized hospitals, and ten clinics in Seoul from June 13 to 17, 2005. Incomplete questionnaires were omitted and 410 respondents(91%) were included for the analysis of this study. Each section of the survey was composed of six categories such as the recognition of malpractice, a compensation system about no-fault medical accidents, the recognition of the judgement of medical accidents in court, reasonable settlement of medical accidents, reasons of lawsuit, and the need of the medical dispute settlement organization. The major results of this study were as follows. First, more than half of the respondents, 51.9 percent, worry about malpractice. And many respondents think malpractice causes their symptoms to persist or become worse, and also some respondents think that the doctor's prescription changed too frequently. Second, as for a compensation system about no-fault medical accident, 55.7 percent of the respondents insist that a proper compensation for suffering patients or their families should be provided. And also as for the responsibility of compensation, respondents think joint compensation of both the medical institution and the government is needed foremost, followed by the medical insurance company and finally by the medical institution. The government as well as the related institutions should take responsibility for malpractice accidents for which the doctor is not responsible. Third, as for the acknowledgment of medical accident judgements by the court, 32.8 percent of respondents think that it is best to compromise with a medical institution, followed by lawsuit(26.2%), the assistance of civil organization(23.2%), and a powerful physical protest(7.6%). Fourth, as for the lawsuit of medical accidents, 62.9 percent of respondents think that patients and their families would be in a disadvantageous position in relation to medical institutions and doctors mentioning the lack of professional medical and lawful knowledge, experience and know-how as the reason. So many people have given up appeals owing to the difficulties involved in defending themselves through evidence. Fifth, about a half share of the respondents indicated that the medical institution's neglect of the responsibility of medical accidents is one of the most important reasons of lawsuit. And next respondents mentioned the lack of the medical dispute settlement organization and a general distrust of medical institutions and doctors. Sixth, a majority of respondents consented to the introduction of the need of the medical dispute settlement organization, And about a half of the respondents mentioned a readiness to accept the mediation of the organization, but the rest did not express a clear opinion. It seems that conflict among the parties concerned have existed in relation to the medical dispute settlement organization and related legislation for many years. But as this study has shown, the needs of the medical dispute settlement organization is in desperate demand. Therefore, more negotiation efforts from all interest groups should be considered for the birth of the medical dispute settlement organization and related legislation.

• Journal of Oral Medicine and Pain
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• v.31 no.4
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• pp.283-296
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• 2006

Along with the development of scientific technologies, health care has been growing remarkably, and as the social life quality improves with increasing interest in health, the demand for medical service is rapidly increasing. However, medical accident and medical dispute also are rapidly increasing due to various factors such as, increasing sense of people's right, lack of understanding in the nature of medical practice, over expectation on medical technique, commercialize medical supply system, moral degeneracy and unawareness of medical jurisprudence by doctors, widespread trend of mutual distrust, and lack of systematized device for solution of medical dispute. This study analysed 30 cases of civil suit in the year between 1994 to 2004, which were selected among the medical dispute cases in dental field with the judgement collected from organizations related to dentistry and department of oral medicine, Yonsei university dental hospital. The following results were drawn from the analyses: 1. The distribution of year showed rapid increase of medical dispute after the year 2000. 2. In the types of medical dispute, suit associated with tooth extraction took 36.7% of all. 3. As for the cause of medical dispute, uncomfortable feeling and dissatisfaction with the treatment showed 36.7%, death and permanent damage showed 16.7% each. 4. Winning the suit, compulsory mediation and recommendation for settlement took 60.0% of judgement result for the plaintiff. 5. For the type of medical organization in relation to medical dispute, 60.0% was found to be the private dental clinics, and 30.0% was university dental hospitals. 6. For the level of trial, dispute that progressed above 2 or 3 trials was of 30.0%. 7. For the amount of claim for damage, the claim amounting between 50 million to 100 million won was of 36.7%, and that of more than 100 million won was 13.3%, and in case of the judgement amount, the amount ranging from 10 million to 30 million won was of 40.0%, and that of more than 100 million won was of 6.7%. 8. For the number of dentist involved in the suit, 26.7% was of 2 or more dentists. 9. For the amount of time spent until the judgement, 46.7% took 11 to 20 months, and 36.7% took 21 to 30 months. 10. For medical malpractice, 46.7% was judged to be guilty, and 70% of the cases had undergone medical judgement or verification of the case by specialists during the process of the suit. 11. In the lost cases of doctors(18 cases), 72.2% was due to violence of carefulness in practice and 16.7% was due to missing of explanation to patient. Medical disputes occurring in the field of dentistry are usually of relatively less risky cases. Hence, the importance of explanation to patient is emphasized, and since the levels of patient satisfaction are subjective, improvement of the relationship between the patient and the dentist and recovery of autonomy within the group dentist are essential in addition to the reduction of technical malpractice. Moreover, management measure against the medical dispute should be set up through complement of the current doctors and hospitals medical malpractice insurance which is being conducted irrationally, and establishment of system in which education as well as consultation for medical disputes lead by the group of dental clinicians and academic scholars are accessible.

• The Korean Society of Law and Medicine
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• v.20 no.1
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• pp.83-107
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• 2019

In order to resolve a dispute over a medical accident, the court is in the process of appraising the medical records for medical professionals to report their medical expertise or judgments using that knowledge. The consequences of expert opinion about a medical accident are only one of the methods of evidence as a reference. Therefore, in principle, the court should not be bound to the results, but the court, which is not a medical expert, can not completely rule out medical expert opinion as to whether there is medical malpractice and causality. Therefore, it can not be denied that the proportion of expert opinion of medical records in the dispute about medical accidents is high and it has an important influence on the judgement of the court. In this paper, we examine the significance and function of expert opinion of the medical accident, examine the appraising procedure of the medical records in the court and the appraising procedure of the medical accidents of the Korean medical dispute mediation arbitrator do. In addition, I would like to examine what kind of attitude is being taken in response to expert opinion of medical records in Korea to court, to examine the implications of the case of Japan as a foreign system, and to suggest improvement points in the expert opinion procedure of medical record filing in Korea. In particular, I would like to suggest improvements on issues such as the fairness of the expert opinion of medical records and the delays in litigation due to delays in the process of expert opinion.

• The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
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• v.20 no.4
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• pp.571-581
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• 2020

There are large, medium, and small items in the evaluation test for medical interpreter professionals personnel and the criteria and level are not clear, which may cause confusion for those preparing for the test. Therefore, we would like to suggest that the qualification requirements for the medical translation ability test and the criteria for the evaluation items are consistent with the medical system in Korea. The survey on the medical interpreter competency test conducted was collected from domestic and foreign data, compared with similar test and overseas test. We also examined the perception of the test by experts with experience in developing and interpreting the medical interpretation test. As a result, in the 'International Culture' evaluation category, 'Language-oriented culture' was changed to 'Medical-oriented culture' and 'Interpretation ethics' was changed to 'Medical interpretation ethics'. In the evaluation items of the hospital system, the 'Medical Dispute Mediation Act', which is 「ACT ON MEDIATION OF MEDICAL DISPUTES」 of the middle item was changed the 「ACT ON REMEDIES FOR INJURIES FROM MEDICAL MALPRACTICE AND MEDIATION OF MEDICAL DISPUTES」 and the Act also reduced the four items related to the 'Medical Tourism Law' to two and added the 「ACT ON SUPPORTING THE ADVANCEMENT OF MEDICAL OVERSEAS AND ATTRACTING FOREIGN PATIENTS」. If the Medical Interpretation Proficiency Test is prepared in accordance with the medical culture of Korea, it is expected that there will be a stable opportunity for professionals who pass the examination to act as experts.

• The Korean Society of Law and Medicine
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• v.9 no.2
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• pp.383-422
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• 2008

Considering above, It might be efficient that medical disputes would be settled by the intervention, the agreement, and the administrative relief that reflect mediators' opinion, who have rich social experience as well as specialized knowledge. Therefore, KCA needs to strengthen its function of mediation and improve relevant systems to become an effective settlement institution. And although Oriental medicine disputes have mainly given ex post facto explanations so far, administrative efforts such as policy development or legislation should be made for the high quality of Oriental medical services offered because an efficient way saving social or economic costs caused by the dispute would be precautionary measures. The traditional Oriental medicine is featured with the lack of baseline examination, the uncertainty of medical mistakes, the difficulty in clarifying and proving facts, the hardship of injury conformation and causality because of the characteristics of Oriental medicine, and the relative lightness of physical damages. Actually, there has been few legal settlements in Oriental medical disputes since the compensation, itself, compared to the lawsuit cost, is relatively much lower without practical benefits.

• The Korean Society of Law and Medicine
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• v.19 no.2
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• pp.139-171
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• 2018

The 「Act on Remedies for Injuries from Medical Malpractice and Mediation of Medical Disputes」(hereinafter referred to as 'the Act on Mediation of Medical Disputes') provides that the state should compensate the victims of medical accidents occurred irresistibly in childbirth despite that health and medical service personnel fulfilled their duty of care for their damage within the range of its budget(Article 46 of the Act on Mediation of Medical Disputes). Given that victims of medical accidents could expect demage recovery only through lawsuits thus far, this act can be said to be a groundbreaking act. However, However, as 30% of the costs for such medical accident compensation projects are borne by those who have records of childbirth among the founders of health and medical institutions (Article 21 of the Act on Mediation of Medical Disputes), there has been a question about whether doctors are held responsible despite that the accidents such as the deaths of mothers and newborn babies occurred irresistibly without doctors' fault. However, recently, the Constitutional Court ruled that 'the range of founders of health and medical institutions' and 'share ratios of finances for compensation' in Article 46 (3) of the Act on Mediation of Medical Disputes' related to the imposition of the share of costs are institutional (Constitutional Court ruling dated April 26, 2018, 2015Heonga13, hereinafter referred to as 'the ruling in the case'). Although the ruling in the case was made based on only the principle of statutory reservation and the principle of ban on comprehensive authorization, this paper added a practical judgment. This paper proved that the share of costs in this case has the nature of burden charges in pursuit of study and does not infringe on the property rights of the founders of health medical institutions even in light of the principle of proportionality because there is a legitimate reason for imposing the burden charge. The imposition of the share of costs in the system for compensation for medical accidents occurred irresistibly is against the principle of liability with fault in part. However, the medical accident compensation projects are rational a national policy for the victims of medical accidents and the medical world clearly gains some benefits from the effect to terminate medical disputes. The expansion of finances for compensation through the payments of the share of costs will reduce the suffering and misunderstanding of victims of medical accidents occurred in the process of childbirth and will be very helpful to the construction of stable treatment environments of medical workers by quickly establishing the medical accident compensation projects as such.

• Journal of Korean Neurosurgical Society
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• v.61 no.4
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• pp.474-477
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• 2018

Objective : From November 30, 2016, the Korean Government carried the revised Medical Dispute Mediation and Arbitration Act into effect. Mediation will start automatically without agreements of the defendant, when the outcome of the patient was death, coma more than a month or severe disability. Cerebral aneurysm has a definite risk of bad outcome, especially in the worst condition. Any surgical intervention to this lesion has its own high risk of complications. Recently, Seoul central district court decided 50% responsibility of the doctors who made a rupture of the aneurysm during coiling (2015Ga-Dan5243104). We reviewed judicial precedents related to cerebral aneurysms in lawsuit using a web search. Methods : We searched judicial precedents at a web search of the Supreme Court, using the key words, "cerebral aneurysm". Results : There were 15 precedents, six from the Supreme Court, seven from the High Court, and two from district courts. Seven precedents were related to the causation analysis, such as work-relationship. Five precedents were malpractice suits related bad results or complications. Remaining three precedents were related to the insurance payment. In five malpractice precedents, two precedents of the Supreme Court reversed former two precedents of the High Court. Conclusion : Judicial precedents on the cerebral aneurysm included not only malpractice suits, but also causation analysis or insurance payment. Attention to these subjects is needed. We also need education of the independent medical examination. To avoid medical disputes, shared decision making seems to be useful, especially in cases of high risk condition or procedures.

• Journal of Arbitration Studies
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• v.28 no.4
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• pp.43-59
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• 2018

This study aims to review various efforts required by medical institutions to prevent medical accidents in advance and to suggest the necessity of introducing liability insurance for medical accidents based on cases abroad and compulsory professional indemnity insurance at home. Over the past five years between 2013 and 2017, the number of inquiries regarding medical accidents and medical disputes has increased by 11.1 percent from 36,099 to 54,929, and the number of mediation and arbitration for medical disputes has increased by 14.3 percent from 1,304 to 2,225. Since some medical accidents even cause social problems, a compulsory insurance system for the liability of medical institutions for damages need to be introduced to promptly compensate the victims of medical accidents and to ensure compensation by medical personnel. In Korea, a system is in place to provide compensation for a client who suffers an accidental damage after receiving professional services, regardless of whether or not the professional service provider can provide compensation. In major foreign countries, a medical liability system is in place that is applied either by the principle of liability with fault, or the principle of liability without fault. In this study, the cases of compulsory insurance and semi-compulsory insurance in the US and Japan to which the principle of liability with fault is applied, as well as the case of New Zealand to which the principle of liability without fault is applied, were examined. It is necessary to urgently introduce the compulsory insurance system for the liability of compensation to prevent medical disputes and to compensate for the life and physical damages of the victims of medical accidents in domestic medical institutions. Doing so is expected to ensure fair compensation for the victims of medical malpractice and compensation by medical personnel, thereby improving medical practice.