Understanding Medicine as a Multi-dimensional Concept in the Legal Context

의료 개념의 다층적 이해와 법

This article analyses the concept of medicine in the legal context. It is not easy to define the concept of medicine because medical practice has various dimensions and the situation in which the practice is performed has a broad variety. The duty of medical law is to build the boundary of protection in that the nature of medicine would not be distorted by the factors of social systems like industry or governmental authorities. Without understanding the various dimensions - especially the dimension of Humanities and Sociology - of the medicine it is not possible to draw the limit on the performance of medicine appropriately. Concerning the medical practice (especially in the context of the regulation of medical licence), the enacted law (Medical Act) defines the concept just for form's sake and it finally depends on the interpretation of the legal enforcement authorities. Moreover, between the judgments of the courts there exists no coherent principles for the regulation and the interpretation of the Medical Act depends often on the riskiness, the abstract concept, which finally leads the interpretation to depend on the subject of the practice. On the contrary, the development and scientific movement of the technology tends to tighten the range of the medical professionals of medical practice and the perspectives of the medicine. Medical act is actually oriented at the patient's understanding of him- or herself. The above-mentioned tendency of the interpretation and the legal policy could lead the medicine away from its nature.