• Korean Journal of Biological Psychiatry
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• v.30 no.1
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• pp.7-16
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• 2023

Objectives This study aimed to review the Korean Constitution articles 14 and 20 of the "Law on suicide prevention" and investigate public perceptions of specific improvements to suicide prevention policies using results from the Korean 2018 National Survey on Suicide. Methods The questionnaire was designed to analyzing the act restricts sharing of patient information between hospitals, making it difficult to track suicide attempts. The questionnaire was also designed to suggest further medical and normative criteria for objective judgment of continuous follow-up utilizing suicide risk evaluations and proportional principle review that consider patients' and medical staff's basic rights. Results This study identified the result of the 1500 respondents, 79.1% believed that Korea should allow suicide prevention management to be implemented without requiring individual consent to protect suicide attempters. Conclusions According the results, I propose the following criteria for policy improvement: use of anonymized information and non-profit research for technical and ethical considerations, access to medical information only for therapeutic purposes, and use of surgical severity assessment criteria appropriate for Korea.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Computer Information Conference
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• 2023.07a
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• pp.317-319
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• 2023

본 논문에서는 변화하는 ICT 기술을 기반으로 의료정보의 빅데이터화를 통해 건강권에 대해 장애인과 비장애인을 중심으로 살펴본다. 전국민 대상의 국가건강검진 중 암 검진에 수검율을 조사하고 여성 장애인의 수검 요인을 분석해 장애인의 건강권 보장이 가능한지 살펴본다. 국가암검진 중 30대 이상 여성을 중심으로 진행되는 자궁경부암 수검 요인을 건강행태적 요인으로 분석한 결과 통계적으로 유의한 차이를 보였다.

• Clinical and Experimental Pediatrics
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• v.52 no.8
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• pp.843-850
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• 2009

A recent High Court's decision regarding the withdrawal of life supporting medical treatment (artificial ventilator) from an elderly female patient in the terminal stage has opened up a new era of the "euthanasia dispute" in Korea. With this decision, the legitimate withdrawal of life supporting treatment became possible under certain conditions and the Korean Medical Association is working toward the establishment of practical guidelines for the terminal-stage patients. However, there are still very few debates on the cases of pediatric patients in the terminal stage or suffering from fatal diseases. For pediatric patients, the core principle of autonomy and following procedure of "advance directives" are hardly kept due to the immaturity of the patients themselves. Decisions for their lives usually are in the hands of the parents, which may often bring out tragic disputes around "child abuse", especially in Korea where parents have exclusive control of the destiny of their children. Some developed countries such as the U.S.A., the U.K. and Canada have already established guidelines or a legal framework for ensuring the rights of the healthcare system regarding children suffering from severe illness, permitting the withdrawal of Life supporting medical treatment (LSMT) in very specific conditions when the quality of life of the children is severely threatened. For the protection of the welfare and interest of the children, we should discuss this issue and develop guidelines for the daily practice of pediatricians.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.17 no.sup3
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• pp.239-243
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• 2016

This article investigates ethical challenges cancer patients face in the end stages of life including doctors' responsibilities, patients' rights, unexpected desires of patients and their relatives, futile treatments, and communication with patients in end stages of life. These patients are taken care of through palliative rather than curative measures. In many cases, patients in the last days of life ask their physician to terminate their illness via euthanasia which has many ethical considerations. Proponents of such mercy killing (euthanasia) believe that if the patient desires, the physician must end the life, while opponents of this issue, consider it as an act of murder incompatible with the spirit of medical sciences. The related arguments presented in this paper and other ethical issues these patients face and possible solutions for dealing with them have been proposed. It should be mentioned that this paper is more human rational and empirical and the views of the legislator are not included, though in many cases human intellectual and empirical comments are compatible with those of the legislator.

• Journal of Physiology & Pathology in Korean Medicine
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• v.22 no.5
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• pp.1132-1139
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• 2008

The structure of medical profession is composed of multiple relations among state, patients, and medical professions. There are conflicts between the nation and medical professions because the nation controls the monopoly of medical professions through medical policies. Patients make relations with medical profession as medical consumers. And medical professions compete each other in order to gain the control of the medical market. This paper attempts to review the dynamic relations between the nation and medical professions. The medical professions and the nation are in conflict about the control of the autonomy of medical professions. The medical professions want to exercise the monopoly rights in their own area and, on the other had, the nation wants to prevent problems that might result from the monopoly by regulations and to have the control over the national operation. Given this, the common view of medical sociology is that the nation and the medical professions are in constant conflict. The arguments that the present medical sociology has on the relationship between the nation and medical professions can be summarized like these: first, the nation is the authenticator of medical system; second, the nation is a medical provider and consumer; and, third, the nation is a mediator of regulations and conflicts. Based on the above mentioned relations between the nation and medical professions, this paper attempts to see how the nation, which is one component of the medical structure, make influences on Korean Oriental doctors and Traditional Chinese doctors. So as to do this, the changes in medical policies and promoting policies for Korean Oriental medicine and Traditional Chinese medicine are analyzed. Finally, the differences in national policies of Korean Oriental medicine and Traditional Chinese medicine are compared.

• Journal of Physiology & Pathology in Korean Medicine
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• v.19 no.1
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• pp.52-60
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• 2005

This study explored the process of the professionalization of Korean Oriental medicine in Je-Han Medical Center. Je-Han Medical Center has fulfilled the requisites of the professionalization. The process of professionalization of Je-Han Medical Center is different from the process of professionalization of Western medical profession. Firstly, the Korean Oriental medical doctors of Je-Han Medical Center had been educated the standardized Korean Oriental medical knowledges. But the medical practices of them were not fully standardized. Secondly, the Korean Oriental medical doctors of Je-Han Medical Center have occupied the exclusive rights in the areas of Korean Oriental medicine. But there still exists the restriction of the range of license. Thirdly, the Korean Oriental medical doctors of Je-Han Medical Center had pride as a Korean Oriental medical doctor. They had the ideology as the national medical doctors. But the patients' use of Korean Oriental medicine were based on the practical reasons, not based on the ideological reasons. Fourthly, the inner hierarchy of Je-Han Medical Center was very strict. But the hierarchical and authoritarian relations between medical doctors and patients were very weak. Like this, we can find the unique process of professionalization of Korean Oriental medicine in Je-Han Medical Center. These findings can contribute to the extend the horizon of the sociology of profession.

• The Journal of Korean Medicine
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• v.21 no.4
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• pp.159-173
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• 2000

Objectives : First, to restore reliability of oriental prescriptions that are effective against incurable diseases, Second, in the short term, to secure the validity of traditional remedies with the help of accumulated data and in the long term, develop new therapeutic methods and prescriptions in order to broaden its aspect in the field of medicine. Third, to maintain predominance on oriental therapeutic methods and put it into practical use based upon the results obtained by this paper. Methods : In the primary sub-thesis(herbalogical analytic methods applied on unknown oriental prescriptions), models of analytic method and in gathering information that could be put into practice are being revised In the secondary sub-thesis(method in gathering and analysing in dealing with oriental prescription), several statistical approaches and analysis on data that has been gathered are being revised. In the tertiary sub-thesis(research on legal guarantee of the offerer rights), an alternative scheme that covers the limitations of the legislative content in dealing with offerer rights is being revised Results : This research has revealed several problems, including those which were foreseen, in proceeding with the project. The prospect of the involvement of the medical personnel engaging in the field of oriental medicine was remarkably bright. Given the condition that the project will proceed as it follows, unknown oriental prescriptions and remedies which have been particularly ignored will eventually play an important role in clinical practice. Conclusions : It is clear to everyone that these oriental remedies will remain ignored by the public unless they gain popularity. Strict verifications on these oriental remedies are definitely needed in order to overcome this limitation. Finally, it should provide a momentum in the field of medicine in gaining popularity to the public.

• The Journal of Korea Assosiation for Disability and Oral Health
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• v.14 no.2
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• pp.111-120
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• 2018

The need for oral health rights for people with disabilities is very high, and current oral health care system does not fully reflect these demands. Efforts to promote oral health of people with disabilities are urgently needed. In order for the disabled to have oral health rights, access to oral health services for people with disabilities should be improved and barriers to access should be resolved. In this study, we propose oral health service delivery system to guarantee oral health rights for the disabled. In addition, before applying the proposed oral medical delivery system, the external effects of the system application were predicted and the expert verification was conducted to find out the solution. There are some controversies about the development of the service delivery system proposed in this study. As a result of the expert verification, there were disagreements about the suitability of the service provider, the suitability of the service recipient, the appropriateness of the service content and scope, and the appropriateness of the cost and the revenue source. Subsequent Delphi surveys require the development of structured questionnaires for discussions that require consensus. It is expected that a reasonable consensus of expert opinions will be derived.

• The Korean Society of Law and Medicine
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• v.10 no.2
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• pp.309-341
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• 2009

According to a case of Supreme Court's Sentence No. 2009DA17417 (May 21, 2009), the Supreme Court judges that 'the right to life is the ultimate one of basic human rights stipulated in the Constitution, so it is required to very limitedly and conservatively determine whether to discontinue any medical practice on which patient's life depends directly.' In addition, the Supreme Court admits that 'only if a patient who comes to a fatal phase before death due to attack of any irreversible disease may execute his or her right of self-determination based on human respect and values and human right to pursue happiness, it is permissible to discontinue life-sustaining treatment for him or her, unless there is any special circumstance.' Furthermore, the Supreme Court finds that 'if a patient who is attacked by any irreversible disease informs medical personnel of his or her intention to agree on the refusal or discontinuance of life-sustaining treatment in advance of his or her potential irreversible loss of consciousness, it is justifiable that he or she already executes the right of self-determination according to prior medical instructions, unless there is any special circumstance where it is reasonably concluded that his or her physician is changed after prior medical instructions for him or her.' The Supreme Court also finds that 'if a patient remains at irreversible loss of consciousness without any prior medical instruction, he or she cannot express his or her intentions at all, so it is rational and complying with social norms to admit possibility of estimating his or her own intentions on withdrawal of life-sustaining treatment, provided that such a withdrawal of life-sustaining treatment meets his or her interests in view of his or her usual sense of values or beliefs and it is reasonably concluded that he or she could likely choose to discontinue life-sustaining treatment, even if he or she were given any chance to execute his or her right of self-determination.' This judgment is very significant in a sense that it suggests the reasonable orientation of solutions for issues posed concerning withdrawal of meaningless life-sustaining medical efforts. The issues concerning removal of medical instruments for meaningless life-sustaining treatment and discontinuance of such treatment in regard to medical treatment for terminal cases don't seem to be so much big deal when a patient has clear consciousness enough to express his or her intentions, but it counts that there is any issue regarding a patient who comes to irreversible loss of consciousness and cannot express his or her intentions. Therefore, it is required to develop an institutional instrument that allows relevant authority to estimate the scope of physician's medical duties for terminal patients as well as a patient's intentions to withdraw any meaningless treatment during his or her terminal phase involving loss of consciousness. However, Korean judicial authority has yet to clarify detailed cases where it is permissible to discontinue any life-sustaining treatment for a patient in accordance with his or her right of self-determination. In this context, it is inevitable and challenging to make better legislation to improve relevant systems concerning withdrawal of life-sustaining treatment. The State must assure the human basic rights for its citizens and needs to prepare a system to assure such basic rights through legislative efforts. In this sense, simply entrusting physician, patient or his or her family with any critical issue like the withdrawal of meaningless life-sustaining treatment, even without any reasonable standard established for such entrustment, means the neglect of official duties by the State. Nevertheless, this issue is not a matter that can be resolved simply by legislative efforts. In order for our society to accept judicial system for withdrawal of life-sustaining treatment, it is important to form a social consensus about this issue and also make proactive discussions on it from a variety of standpoints.

• Health Policy and Management
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• v.15 no.1
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• pp.57-77
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• 2005

The purpose of this study was to assess medical professionals' knowledge and attitude about AIDS. The subjects of study were medical doctors and dentists, belonging to Korea Association of Public Health Doctors. We sent a e-mailed questionnaire to 3,059 members and received 407 replies. Questionnaire was made on the basis of former studies' results and interviews with infected people. Major findings of this study were as follow. A lot of medical professionals had incorrect and biased knowledge about AIDS. More than half of them overestimated infection probability in case of being prickled with a contaminated needle. And many has negative attitude. The more they had correct informations about AIDS, the more they had possibilities to have friendly attitude to infected people. Incorrect knowledge cause excessive fears about AIDS, which amplify the stigma and discrimination. They contribute to people's vulnerability not only to HIV infection but also to other threats to health and well-being. It is in need of medical professionals' effort to increase their knowledge and improve attitude about AIDS.