• The Korean Society of Law and Medicine
• /
• v.9 no.1
• /
• pp.57-127
• /
• 2008

In medical malpractice lawsuits, negligence is generally defined as conduct that is culpable because it falls short of what a reasonable person would do to protect another individual from a foreseeable risks of harm. Thus, the essence of negligence is a breach of obligations to be attentive, and the breach of obligations to be is negligence. However, whether negligence is or not depends on time, place, litigation forms and the judge since the meaning of negligence is wavering on the basis of abstract and normative judgment. In this thesis, what is medical negligence, a breach of obligations of attention for a doctor in medical malpractice lawsuits, would be it further enacted that doctors have the responsibility to protect the patients as a subordinate duty due to a principle of faith and sincerity besides the main duty for medical contract-performance since the suit is a litigation form to be based on responsibilities of experts, especially doctors, though having factors that are non-contractual as a trait for medical treatment. Further on the concept, when the plaintiff asserts and proves a specific fact from the recent moderation of the burden of proof about medical malpractices, whether the court should find a true bill in medical malpractice actually or not has been discussed.

• Journal of The Korean Society of Clinical Toxicology
• /
• v.3 no.1
• /
• pp.1-10
• /
• 2005

Gastric lavage is now known to be ineffective, unnecessary or hazardous in some circumstances where it used to be performed as a routine. This article concerns the medico-legal aspect of forced gastric lavage. The Supreme Court 2005.1.28, 2003da14119 is the case where a patient, who ingested the organophosphate insecticide to attempt suicide and refused lavage. At first we discuss the effectiveness or hazards of lavage because a very high degree of proof -of negligence, not error of clinical judgment - would be required. Lavage, with or without the informed consent, performed negligently which result in harm could, of course, give rise to a claim in negligence. A doctor might also be held negligent in failing to perform an act which he/she had a duty to perform.

• Journal of muscle and joint health
• /
• v.28 no.1
• /
• pp.30-40
• /
• 2021

Purpose: This study aims to present nurses' legal conflicts and legal basis through the precedent analysis of a crime of professional negligence resulting in death and injury for the past 20 years and provide vital references to cultivate the correct and high-level legal consciousness of nurses. Methods: This study was conducted in five stages of the systematic content analysis method. It amalyses the precedents of a crime of nurses' professional negligence resulting in death and injury from 2000 to 2020. The application system for the provision of the written judgment was used to collect precedents. A total of 67 cases were analyzed in this study, and they were classified according to the type of nursing error, and the contents were systematically analyzed. Results: A total of 52 cases (77.5%) of nursing errors were caused by independent nursing practices. They were classified as 38 cases (A1) in the violation of patient supervision obligations, 12 cases in the violation of progress observation obligations (A2), one case in the violation of medical equipment inspection obligations (A3), and one case in the violation of explanation and verification obligations. Among the non-independent nursing practices (code B), B1 was 10 cases related to administrative acts, one blood transfusion accident (B2), and one anesthesia accident (B3). Conclusion: To prevent nurses from being involved in legal confits, the advocation of systematic training such as nurses' legal obligations and judgment grounds through case-based learning from the recent precedent analysis and promote nurses' legal perspective, and preventive activities are essential.

• The Korean Society of Law and Medicine
• /
• v.25 no.1
• /
• pp.61-86
• /
• 2024

The purpose of this study was to investigate the importance of continuous and detailed follow-up of patients after spinal surgery by reviewing the literature on epidural hematoma and the lower court ruling on lumbar MRI during the judgment on the negligence of postoperative follow-up. In the case of neglecting MRI examination or cooperation after surgery, delaying MRI examination after pain and symptom appeal after surgery, and returning home immediately after neurological symptom development after surgery, negligence in progress observation was recognized. In the case of the case where the negligence was not recognized even after the occurrence of the aftereffects by taking measures against the symptoms, and the case where the scope of the doctor's discretion for the execution of the test was recognized, It is hoped that this study will help prevent medical accidents and disputes related to follow-up after spinal surgery by increasing awareness of the importance of prompt MRI examination, diagnosis, surgical treatment, and power, especially in the case of new neurological symptoms.

• The Journal of The Korea Institute of Intelligent Transport Systems
• /
• v.21 no.6
• /
• pp.36-56
• /
• 2022

Traffic accidents occur in Korea are calculated with the 「Automobile Accident Negligence Ratio Certification Standard」 prepared by the 'General Insurance Association of Korea' and the insurance company's agreement or judgment is made. However, disputes are frequently occurring in calculating the negligence ratio. Therefore, it is thought that a more effective response would be possible if accident type according to the standard could be quickly identified using traffic accident information prepared by police. Therefore, this study aims to develop a model that learns the accident information prepared by the police and classifies it to match the accident type in the standard. In particular, through data mining, keywords necessary to classify the accident types of the standard were extracted from the accident data of the police. Then, models were developed to derive the types of accidents by learning the extracted keywords through decision trees and random forest models.

• The Korean Society of Law and Medicine
• /
• v.24 no.4
• /
• pp.3-36
• /
• 2023

The main issue in medical malpractice civil litigation is medical negligence and the causal relationship between medical negligence and damages. Regarding the presumption of causality in cases where medical negligence is proven, there is a previous Supreme Court decision 93da52402 on February 10, 1995, but it is difficult to find a case that satisfies the textual requirements of the above decision, and yet, in practice, the above decision is cited. In many cases, causal relationships were assumed, and criticism was consistently raised that it was inconsistent with the text of the above judgment. In its ruling, the Supreme Court reorganized and presented a new legal principle regarding the presumption of causality when medical negligence is proven in a civil lawsuit. According to this, If the patient proves ① the existence of an act that is assessed as a medical negligence, that is, a violation of the duty of care required of an ordinary medical professional at the level of medical care practiced in the field of clinical medicine at the time of medical practice, and ② that the negligence is likely to cause damages to the patient, the burden of proving the causal relationship is alleviated by presuming a causal relationship between medical negligence and damage. Here, the probability of occurrence of damage does not need to be proven beyond doubt from a natural scientific or medical perspective, but if recognizing the causal relationship between the negligence and the damage does not comply with medical principles or if there is a vague possibility that the negligence will cause damage, causality cannot be considered proven. Meanwhile, even if a causal relationship between medical negligence and damage is presumed, the party that performed the medical treatment can overturn the presumption by proving that the patient's damage was not caused by medical negligence. Meanwhile, unlike civil cases, the standard is 'proof beyond reasonable doubt' in criminal cases, and the legal principle of presuming causality does not apply. Accordingly, in a criminal case of professional negligence manslaughter that was decided on the same day regarding the same medical accident, the case was overturned and remanded for not guilty due to lack of proof of a causal relationship between medical negligence and death. The above criminal ruling is a ruling that states that even if 'professional negligence' is recognized in a criminal case related to medical malpractice, the person should not be judged guilty if there is a lack of clear proof of 'causal relationship'.

• The Korean Society of Law and Medicine
• /
• v.13 no.1
• /
• pp.199-247
• /
• 2012

According to the review and analysis of medical cases that are assigned to the Supreme Court and all local High Court in 2011 and that are presented in the media, it was found that the following categories were taken seriously, medical and pharmaceutical product liability, the third principle of trust between medical institutions, negligence and causation estimation, responsibility limit, the meaning of medical records and related judgment of disturbed substantiation, Oriental doctors' duties to explain the procedures, IMS events, whether one can claim for each medical care operated by non-physician health care institutions to the nonmedical domain in the National Health Insurance Corporation, and the basis of norms for each claim. In the cases related to medical pharmaceutical product liability, Supreme Court alleviated burden of proof for accidents with medical and pharmaceutical products prior to the practice of Product Liability Law and onset the point of negative prescription as the time of damage strikes to condition feasibility of the specific situation. In the cases related to the 3rd principle of trust between medical institutions, the Supreme Court refused to sentence the doctor who has trusted the judgment of the same third-party doctors the violations of the care duty. With respect to proof of a causal relationship and damages in a medical negligence case, the Supreme Court decided that it is unjust to deny negligence by the materials of causal relationship rejecting the original verdict and clarified that the causal relationship shall not deny the reasons to limit doctors' responsibilities. In order not put burden on patients with disadvantages in which medical records and the description of the practice or the most fundamental and important evidence to prove negligence and causation are being neglected, the Supreme Court admitted in the hospital's responsibility for the case of the neonate death of suffocation without properly listed fetal heart rate and uterine contraction monitor. On the other hand, the Seoul Western District Court has admitted alimony for altering and forging medical records. With respect to doctors' obligations to description, the Supreme Court decided that it is necessary to explain the foreseen risks by the combination of oriental and western medicines emphasizing the right of patient's self-determination. However, questions have arisen whether it is realistically feasible or not. In a case of an unlicensed doctor performing intramuscular stimulation treatment (IMS), the Supreme Court put off its decision if it was an unlicensed medical practice as to put limitation of eastern and western medical practices, but it declared that IMS practice was an acupuncture treatment therefore the plaintiff's conduct being an illegal act. In the future, clear judgment on this matter should be made. With respect to the claim of bills from non-physical health care institutions, the Supreme Court decided to void it for the implementation of the arrangement is contrary to the commitments made in the medical law and therefore, it is invalid to claim. In addition, contrast to the private healthcare professionals, who are subject to redemption according to the National Healthcare Insurance Law, the Seoul High Court explicitly confirmed that the non-professionals who receive the tort operating profit must return the unjust enrichment and have the liability for damages. As mentioned above, a relatively wide range of topics were discussed in medical field of 2011. In Korea's health care environment undergoing complex changes day by day, it is expected to see more diverse and in-depth discussions striding out to the development in the field of health care.

• The Korean Society of Law and Medicine
• /
• v.23 no.2
• /
• pp.171-209
• /
• 2022

There were also many medical-related rulings in 2021, among which the rulings reviewed in this paper are as follows. The first relates to a case in which the medical record, which is the primary judgment data regarding the presence or absence of medical negligence, has been modified. The court judged whether there was negligence on the basis of the first written medical record without considering the contents of the medical record that was later modified. Next, the ruling on the case of asking for liability for damages for prescription of anti-obesity drugs recognized negligence related to prescription, but denied liability for property damage by denying a causal relationship, and recognized only alimony for violation of the duty of explanation. The a full-bench ruling on the scope of subrogation of the National Health Insurance Corporation, which subrogates the claims for compensation for medical expenses against the perpetrator of the patient, changed the existing precedent that had taken the 'deduction method after offsetting negligence' and judged it as 'the method of offsetting negligence after deduction'. In addition, in the ruling on whether or not there was negligence, the court was not bound by the medical record appraisal result. Lastly, in relation to the National Health Insurance Service's disposition of reimbursement for medical care benefit costs, we reviewed the ruling that discretion should be exercised even when a non-medical person makes a refund to a medical institution opened by a non-medical person. And we also reviewed the ruling that the scope of reimbursement for medical institutions jointly using facilities and manpower specifically should be determined.

• The Korean Society of Law and Medicine
• /
• v.22 no.2
• /
• pp.49-79
• /
• 2021

Due to defendant's wrongful act by implant surgery, plaintiff has been suffered serious damages to his face and teeth, and pain caused by establishing implanted teeth. Jeonju Appellate Court sentenced to pay future medical expenses and alimony to the plaintiff in compensation for breach of duty or torts. The ruling is designed to relieve the burden of proof because it is extremely difficult for non-experts to determine whether dentists violated their 'duty of care' or whether there was a causal relationship between damages to medial treatment. It was judged that if symptoms that contributed to the patient's significant outcome occurred during or after surgery, such symptoms could be presumed to have been caused by medical negligence if indirect facts were proven to be other than medical negligence. Originally, the shifting of burden of proof in Germany, has already been developed in medical malpractice case since 1940s. In order to guarantee the patients' right, §630h German Civil Code (BGB) - presumption of negligence in the realization of controllable risk- has been also legislated. BGH (Bundesgerichtshof) has been interested in ensuring that the principle of equality between patients and doctors. So, in this study, we wanted to refer to German precedent cases to analyzing Korean medical malpractice lawsuit. In particular, the decision could be significant in that it approaches closer to allows the shifting burden of proof in drastically growing dental malpractice cases. This is clearly confirmed in the judgment of the dentist's "fault" that "if indirect facts about the symptom or occurrence are proven to be cause other than medical negligence, such symptoms can be presumed to be due to medical negligence."

• Korean Journal of Health Education and Promotion
• /
• v.24 no.1
• /
• pp.45-61
• /
• 2007

Objectives: This study aims to identify the usage status of general drugs by some college students based on their own judgment and the relevant factors having impact on them. Methods: The questionnaire survey was conducted by visiting the students in 3 colleges in Daejeon and Chungcheongnam-Do. 792 students were finally selected as the subjects. The results were statistically analyzed using the SPSSWIN(ver 13.0) and $x^2-test$, ANOVA and multiple regression analysis were conducted. Results: The usage status of college students showed the significant difference by general features, knowledge and recognition attitude. The knowledge level of students on the general drugs was very low. They had excessive expectation on the general drugs in terms of the recognition attitude. The lowest factor was the distrust on the general drugs. 27.5% of subjects was satisfied with the effect after using 48.1%m when the drugs were frequently used. Those who experienced the side effects accounted for 9.6%. In accordance with the analysis on the factors related to the knowledge on, recognition attitude on and usage status of general drugs, the education had the highest influence on the abuse and misapplication of drugs. For the mistrust factor on the drugs and negligence factor on abnormal response, the gender was the most influencing. The knowledge level was the greatest impact on the excessive expectation factor on the drugs. The factor that the usage status was the most influential was the education on the abuse and misapplication of drugs. Conclusions: The systematic approach including establishment of health policies for the improvement of health and health education activity should be implemented on the basis of the thorough analysis on the knowledge level and recognition on drugs and the factors influencing on the usage of drugs.