의료법학 (The Korean Society of Law and Medicine)
- 제9권2호
- /
- Pages.231-267
- /
- 2008
- /
- 1229-8069(pISSN)
의사의 금연 건강지도의무와 의료과오책임
Doctor's Failure to Provide Effective Treatments for Smokers and the Legal Responsibility of Medical Malpractice
- 김운묵 (한국복지인력개발원, 한국입법학연구소)
- Kim, Un-Mook (Korea Human Resource Development Institute for Health and Welfare, Chief Research Fellow of the Korea Legislative Studies Research Institute)
- 발행 : 2008.12.31
초록
Tobacco has become the world's leading cause of deaths and diseases. And !be tobacco use and dependence itself is a kind of diseases, so-called "mental and be-havioural disorders due to use of tobacco" in "International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems(ICD-10)" and "Korean Standard Classification of Diseases". The tobacco use and dependence is a chronic disease that requires repeated clinical interventions and multiple attempts to quit. But effective treatments to the tobacco use and dependence are developed and exist that can significantly increase the rate of long-tenn smoking abstinence. So the physicians should warn smoking patients about the dangers of smoking to the health and the life, and the clinicians ought to provide one of more of the treatments which have been proven effective in helping smokers quit to smoke. It has been concluded that if a doctor failed to provide effective treatment for smokers, and the smokers subsequently died of the smokers-related conditions(tobaccosis) or became incapacitated by the tobaccosis the smokers were considered in the medical malpractice. Thus the smokers could sue the physician for medical malpractice, claiming that the doctor's legal responsibility of appropriate treatments including smoking-cessation which the physician deliberately or negligently breached.
키워드