• The Korean Society of Law and Medicine
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• v.23 no.2
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• pp.3-36
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• 2022

In order to solve the pharmaceutical kickback problem, it is needed to establish legal system that allow ways to enable pharmaceutical promotion of medicines without kickbacks as well as provide sanction those who commit illegal act. Before the National Assembly and the government focused on strengthening sanctions. As a result, in 2014, a system of suspending medical care benefits was introduced, which could inflict heavy losses on pharmaceutical companies by withdrawing target medicines from the market. However, three years after the introduction, the system was abolished in 2018, recognizing the problem that the disposition could infringe on the patients' right to access to and choice of medicines. In 2021, the National Assembly made it possible for dispositions suspending medical care benefits regarding the third violation, which remained symbolic until then, replaced with administrative fines. Although the legislator's reflective stance on the system is more than clear, the Ministry of Health and Welfare still interprets that the old law should be applied to kickbacks for the period of the law. Moreover, regarding the substitution of fines at the discretion of the Minister of Health and Welfare under the old law, the narrow standards taken under the old law seems to be maintained. In this paper, firstly pharmaceutical kickback issue, the main reason for the introduction of the system, will be explained, after that the history of introduction and abolition of the system examined and last but not least the unconstitutionality of the system and the illegality of the disposition are to be examined.

• The Korean Society of Law and Medicine
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• v.20 no.2
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• pp.231-260
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• 2019

Following the last issue, we summarized the major medical judgments in 2018. Especially, efforts have been made to introduce as many judgments as they relate to the obligation to explain. This is because the limits of the court's judgments were so diverse that it was unknown. Regarding the extent of damages, attention should also be paid to cases where the cost of care is recognized as a large amount, and cases where the memorandum is effective for the increased cost of treatment. The rulings related to the payment and deduction of medical expenses were the most discussed, although the description was small. The case of multi-institutional operation of medical institutions is an interim decision, but it is a case of interest in the medical community, and regarding uninsured medical expenses, cases of discretionary abuse have been reduced compared to the past, but are still significant.