• The Korean Society of Law and Medicine
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• v.19 no.2
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• pp.99-137
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• 2018

Under the Korean law, there are two routes of involuntary civil commitment of the mentally-ill: involuntary commitment process under the Mental Health Act (MHA) and the guardian's commitment backed up by family court approval under article 947-2 (2) of the Civil Code. Despite of the recent fundamental revision of MHA in 2016, the Korean involuntary commitment law has still serious flaws, especially the lack of due process like prior notice, hearing, and independent guardian ad litem for the mentally-ill, which has been pointed out also by the Korean Constitutional Court. Thus, a re-revision is inevitable, and this time, we should proceed to rebuild the underlying structure of involuntary commitment. In this regard, it is crucial to eliminate the old-fashioned and unjustifiable burden as well as power of the so-called responsible person to protect the mentally-ill and to readjust the causes and standings to petition of the various types of involuntary commitment process. Also it is necessary to repeal involuntary commitment by guardian under the Civil Code, article 947-2 (2), which can no longer harmonize with modern involuntary commitment system.

• The Korean Society of Law and Medicine
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• v.24 no.3
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• pp.155-206
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• 2023

When a person with diminished mental capacity refuses necessary medical care, normative judgments about when paternalistic intervention can be justified come into question. A typical example is involuntary hospitalization for people with mental disabilities, traditionally governed by mental health law. However, Korean civil law reform in 2011 introduced a new form of involuntary hospitalization through guardianship legislation, leading to a dualized system to involuntary hospitalization. Consequently, a conflict has arisen between the 'best interest and surrogate decision-making' paradigm of civil law and the 'social defense and preventive detention' paradigm of mental health law. Many countries have criticized this dualized system as not only inefficient but also unfair. Moreover, the requirement for the presence of 'mental illness' for involuntary hospitalization under mental health law has faced criticism for unfairly discriminating against people with mental disabilities. In response, attempts have been made to integrate guardianship legislation and mental health law based on mental capacity. This study examines the legislative process and framework of the Mental Capacity Act (Northern Ireland) 2016, which reorganized the mental health care system by fusing guardianship legislation with mental health law based on mental capacity. By analyzing the case of Northern Ireland, which has grappled with conflicts between guardianship legislation and mental health law since the 1990s and recently proposed mental capacity as a single, non-discriminatory standard, we aimed to offer insights for the Korean guardianship and mental health systems.

• The Korean Society of Law and Medicine
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• v.25 no.1
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• pp.87-115
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• 2024

In Korea, exposure to stress has been accompanied by mental pain in the process of achieving many growth along with rapid development, various social problems, and the frequency of emergency hospitalization is increasing.. In the case of mentally ill patients, "unwanted hospitalization" is a problem, and police and 119 paramedics try to suppress the body of mentally ill patients, and many problems are exposed This is because the constituent requirements of the provisions of emergency hospitalization under the Mental Health and Welfare Act do not reflect reality, and each institution has a different position on one mentally ill person, and emergency hospitalization does not proceed smoothly or leads to friction between related organizations, and the safety of the mentally ill or others is not secured. Emergency hospitalization is defined as "a person who finds a person who is presumed to be mentally ill and is at high risk of harming his or her health or safety or others," and if the situation is so urgent that he or she cannot afford time to go through the hospitalization procedure to decide on his or her own hospitalization, he or she can request emergency hospitalization with the consent of a doctor and a police officer. In this case, 119 paramedics are escorted to a psychiatric institution. This provision of emergency hospitalization poses many problems in the process of transferring to psychiatric institutions. If a police officer or 119 paramedics in charge of practice use "physical force" during the emergency hospitalization process, side effects will inevitably occur, and professional negligence can be a problem. Specifically, when exercising physical force, the minimum necessary physical restraint based on laws and regulations and proportional principles is required, and the lack of the duty of care of 119 paramedics or police officers under the laws and regulations will eventually be resolved by applying other laws and regulations. Accordingly, it will be an opportunity for mentally ill patients to be transferred to psychiatric institutions in a safe environment by changing the subject of emergency hospitalization provisions under the Mental Health Welfare Act, defining and prescribing the use of physical protection guards as the enforcement regulations of the Mental Health Act, setting the duty of care for 119 paramedics and police officers, and creating an environment for transportation so that mentally ill patients can be treated safely.

• Journal of Convergence for Information Technology
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• v.9 no.5
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• pp.228-235
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• 2019

The purpose of this study is to explore the experiences and challenges of public guardianship services project for the mental disabled as a system of supporting the decision-making and the rights advocacy. For this purpose, interviews with 11 social workers who act as public guardians were conducted and a model of practice was suggested through analysis using the grounded theory of Strauss and Corbin(1998). As a results, the possibility of rights advocacy through public guardian services for the mentally disabled, the positive change of attitude of the facilities and the establishment of direction for the restoration of rights for the mentally disabled were derived. Public guardians experienced excessive empowerment of their guardians or difficulties in the process of their duties, but were also able to defend the rights of the mental disabled and support self-determination right. Through this study, expansion of budgets and expansion of beneficiaries for public guardianship services, establishment of infrastructure for integration in the community, set-up a support organization for public guardian services and Raising awareness of the mental disabled and public guardian services were suggested.

• The Korean Society of Law and Medicine
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• v.23 no.4
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• pp.75-102
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• 2022

In this article, 「Act on the hospice and palliative care and decisions on life-sustaining treatment for patients at the end of life」, 「Act On The Improvement Of Mental Health And The Support For Welfare Services For Mental Patients」, 「Organs Transplant Act」, 「Safety And Management Of Human Tissue Act」, 「Pharmaceutical Affairs Act」, 「Prevention Of Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome Act」, 「Tuberculosis Prevention Act」, 「Infectious Disease Control And Prevention Act」 were reviewed. Patients' right to self-determination and consent in these laws are related to civil law. even though they are closely related to the civil law in relation to patients' right to self-determination and consent. In order to consistently operate medical administration, it is necessary to understand the principles of civil law decision-making.

• The Korean Society of Law and Medicine
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• v.19 no.1
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• pp.23-80
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• 2018

Since the 1960s, the United States' (U.S.) deinstitutionalization policy has reinstated people with mental illness into communities. Unfortunately, when untreated, some people with psychiatric disorders become homeless, and some commit serious crimes during a psychological crisis. Assisted Outpatient Treatment (AOT), also known as Kendra's Law in New York and Laura's Law in California, provides treatment, services and support to people with mental illness in the community. AOT has repeatedly been found effective and is recognized as an evidence-based practice. The response to the mental health crisis (crisis intervention) in the U.S. has also been successful in preventing worsening mental illness and related criminality and other issues. This paper provides an opportunity to create a platform from which to learn how to successfully apply the AOT and crisis intervention of the U.S. to South Korea within the cultural and societal context when establishing social services for people with mental illness in South Korea's communities.