• The Korean Society of Law and Medicine
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• v.24 no.4
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• pp.131-160
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• 2023

An amendment to Medical Law allowing permanent face-to-face treatment has been proposed in the 21st National Assembly, with five different bills introduced. However, each proposed amendment focuses on different aspects, and the issue is currently in a state of 'ongoing review' due to factors such as opposition from the medical profession and political considerations. However, from the perspective that the introduction of non-face-to-face treatment should be institutionalized and legislated prioritizing patient safety, certain directions are proposed. These include focusing on returning patients as the primary target, chronic diseases as the focal conditions, outpatient medical institutions as the implementing agencies, restricting non-face-to-face means primarily to video systems, and legally exempting healthcare professionals from responsibility for incidents beyond their control. The proposed directions also emphasize establishing the right to demand face-to-face treatment. It is suggested to legislate initial standards that ensure a minimum level of safety and gradually expand the scope of non-face-to-face treatment through future research, evaluation, and similar step-by-step approaches.

• The Korean Society of Law and Medicine
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• v.18 no.2
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• pp.139-161
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• 2017

In this paper, The Supreme Court of Korea 2016. 1. 28. 2015Da9769 was reviewed. In the previous case, Korean Supreme Court 2009Da17417 for the element to requirement for permission of the withdrawal of life-sustaining treatments, the patient's consent for withdrawal of life-sustaining treatments was assumed a declaration of intention to terminate the contract. But the consent for withdrawal of life-sustaining treatments corresponds not to those. The consent for medical treatments is not the juristic acts but the real acts. If the presumptive intention about these withdrawal regards as the termination of medical contract, the contract must be up to the starting the civil proceedings. According to this case, although the partial cancellation of medical contract is admitted, on the other hand medical expenses obligation ist exempted only after the final decision. At the withdrawal of life-sustaining treatments the medical obligation ist exempted because of the inability to providing the medical payment, which confirmed by the final decision about the withdrawal of life-sustaining treatments. Therefore the judgement of this case ist appropriate in that sense, the medical obligation ist waived only after the final decision. However that legal basis lies not at the partial cancel but at the partial inability.

• The Korean Society of Law and Medicine
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• v.8 no.1
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• pp.61-105
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• 2007

The Hospitalized Acquired Infection is defined as the case where the hidden infection or not found at the time of hospitalization occurs during the hospitalized period or, within 30 days to those who performed the surgery operation and then left the hospital. About 2/3 of the Hospitalized Acquired Infection are found as having the internal infection cases that are occurred by the patients' own virus due to the lowered immune system, while about 1/3 are found as having the external infection. The latter 1/3 of the external infection cases can be prevented through the infection management. And in case the new Hospitalized Acquired Infection case occur to the patient who was treated in the hospital, its responsibility issue will matter. As well in the disputes over the Hospitalized Acquired Infection cases, the cause-result relation between the damages and the medical staff's fault and as to whether there is failure of the medical staff or not. personnel should be proved in the medical-malpractice cases. In addition, the difficulties in proving such as expertise, secrecy propensity, discrete propensity and incompleteness will be considered to ease the burden of patient side's proving. Probability theory, Fact based assumption theory, Most adequate plaintiff preassumption or Expressed evidence theories are being discussed as the theories of eased burden of proof. In the result of gathering and reviewing Korea's precedent cases concerning the Hospitalized Acquired Infection, there are only a few accumulated prece dent cases and the attitude of the court also are also not consistent. Therefore, there are the precedents where the cause-result relation and the failure are immediately assumed when (1) timely proximity between the medical behavior and malpractice results, (2) proximity between the medical behavior-applied parts and the malpractice results-found parts, and (3) lack of other causes are separately evidenced; while the are the precedents only when 'the existence of the medical faults based on the common sense' is separately evidenced. It was found that the former and latter cases coexisted. The former is considered as based on the theory that separates the fault and cause-result relation not to consider them together, or regarded as based on the doubts that assumes the medical staff's neglect even though the Hospitalized Acquired Infection might be completely prevented by their efforts. However, the modern medical technology has the limitation as far as the prevention of the Hospitalized Acquired Infection. In conclusion, the assumption of the cause-result relation and that of the fault should be separately reviewed. Therefore, the latter precedents are considered as more reasonable, in the point the faulty behavior may be proved based on the common sense.

• The Korean Society of Law and Medicine
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• v.24 no.1
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• pp.101-130
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• 2023

Korea has very easy access to tertiary hospitals, including university hospitals, among OECD countries, and patients can reach the emergency room of a university hospital within 1-2 hours. However, there are many so-called 'essential medical' blind spots where people die because they do not receive surgery in time. In particular, in the case of essential medical care in the surgical field, despite basic surgery, there is a shortage of medical staff to perform outpatient surgery in emergency situations at university hospitals. Although this lack of manpower has a problem with low insurance premiums for surgery, it also has a very large impact on the burden of criminal liability for medical malpractice, which increases the incidence in case of emergencies. Here, we propose crime immunity to solve the manpower shortage of converged smart surgical essential medical (SES) hospitals. Currently, the medical community agrees on the need for crime immunity, but it is an ambiguous scope of immunity that has not reached a national consensus. We would like to present clear standards for essential medical practices (surgery) that require criminal immunity.

• The Korean Society of Law and Medicine
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• v.21 no.1
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• pp.153-185
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• 2020

In principle, even if serious consequences such as death or serious injury of a patient occur as a result of a medical accident, if the medical malpractice of a health care worker is not recognized, the health care worker is not held liable for said consequences. However, with the opening of the Korea Medical Dispute Mediation and Arbitration Agency on April 7, 2012, a system was established to compensate health care personnel for their medical malpractices only in the case of "injuries caused by medical accidents in the course of childbirth" (hereinafter referred to as "program for compensation of medical accidents"). Article 46 paragraph 1 of the current Medical Dispute Mediation Act, which is the basis of the Force Majeure Medical Accident Compensation System, stipulates that "medical accidents under delivery" claims are to be determined by the Medical Accident Compensation Review Committee are subject to the compensation project. And the details of the compensation, ratio of sharing financial resources for compensation, scope of compensation, and the guidelines and procedure for the payment of compensations are prescribed by Presidential Decree. In other words, the Presidential Decree requires the state to pay 70 percent of the compensation funds, and 30 percent of the above funds among health care providers. The Constitutional Court has decided on the 2015Hun-Ga13 that the scope of the health care institution's founders and the share of the compensation funds cannot be directly determined by the law, and that the portion delegated by the Presidential decree does not violate the Principle of Legal Protection nor Comprehensive Nondelegation Doctrine. However, this can be seen as an exclusion of accountability for force-induced delivery accidents even if there is no negligence of the medical staff. If the nature of the system is a type of social security system with a social compensatory nature, it could consider eliminating the health care innovator's cost-sharing provisions, leaving the full cost to the state. However, it is also necessary to review institutional protocols that strengthen the efforts of medical institutions in areas such as analysis of the causes of medical accidents and measures to prevent their recurrence. In addition, I think that the conclusion of the Act is in line with the purpose of the Comprehensive Wage Support Regulations that at minimum the law sets an upper limit of the compensation funds that are to be paid by health and medical institutions. Moreover, it is reasonable for the Medical Accident Compensation Review Committee to specify gestational age and weight of births, which are the criteria for compensation, under the Enforcement Decree of the Medical Dispute Mediation Act, in relation to the criteria for payment of contributions by the Medical Accident Compensation Review Committee, and to set the detailed criteria.

• 대한예방의학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2001.10a
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• pp.373-374
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• 2001

• 대한예방의학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2002.10a
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• pp.243-244
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• 2002

• The Journal of the Korean dental association
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• v.39 no.4 s.383
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• pp.316-323
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• 2001

• The Journal of the Korean dental association
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• v.39 no.3 s.382
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• pp.215-228
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• 2001

• 대한예방의학회:학술대회논문집
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• 1999.10a
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• pp.85-85
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• 1999