• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.16 no.8
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• pp.3153-3157
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• 2015

Background: Incidence and mortality rates for cancer have increased dramatically in the recent 30 years in Taiwan. However, not all patients receive treatment. Treatment refusal might impair patient survival and life quality. In order to improve this situation, we proposed this study to evaluate factors that are related to refusal of treatment in cancer patients via a cancer case manager system. Materials and Methods: This study analysed data from a case management system during the period from 2010 to 2012 at a medical center in Northern Taiwan. We enrolled a total of 14,974 patients who were diagnosed with cancer. Using the PRECEDE Model as a framework, we conducted logistic regression analysis to identify independent variables that are significantly associated with refusal of therapy in cancer patients. A multivariate logistic regression model was also applied to estimate adjusted the odds ratios (ORs) with 95% confidence intervals (95%CI). Results: A total of 253 patients (1.69%) refused treatment. The multivariate logistic regression result showed that the high risk factors for refusal of treatment in cancer patient included: concerns about adverse effects (p<0.001), poor performance(p<0.001), changes in medical condition (p<0.001), timing of case manager contact (p=.026), the methods by which case manager contact patients (p<0.001) and the frequency that case managers contact patients (${\geq}10times$) (p=0.016). Conclusions: Cancer patients who refuse treatment have poor survival. The present study provides evidence of factors that are related to refusal of therapy and might be helpful for further application and improvement of cancer care.

• Journal of Oriental Neuropsychiatry
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• v.21 no.4
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• pp.219-231
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• 2010

Objectives : School refusal is usually considered as individual's behavioral problem. These days. however. the adolescents' school refusal needs some kind of medical approaches because it is related to mental disorder of the adolescents. Due to too much pressure and stress from the competition between classmates and from good performance in school. the number of adolescents who refuse to go to school is increasing. Despite this circumstance. school refusal is neither regarded as a single independent disorder nor endorsed as an officially classified disease. which makes difficult to conduct research on this issue and to establish standardized treatment for it. In addition. there is a lack of research on this topic. especially in oriental medicine. so there is no a case report or study on school refusal. This study is trying to comment on school refusal from the perspective of oriental medicine. Methods : We tried to examine the effect of oriental medicine treatment for school refusal with four adolescent cases. The patients commonly have at least more than one mental disorder (including depression disorder. anxiety disorder. and anorexia nervosa). have some problem with the relationship with their family. in particular with mother. do not have father or not be loved by their father. and have irregular eating habits. Thus. we diagnosed them as qi transforming into fire (氣鬱化矢) spleen-stomach deficiency cold (脾胃虛寒) and heart blood deficiency (心血虛) due to stress from the family issues and unhealthy eating habits. The patients received supportive therapy. family therapy. etc among many oriental mental treatments and their progress had been observed through hospitalization and outpatient treatment. Results : All four cases were reported positive progress on their symptoms and started coming back to school. We also examined whether they were well fitting into the school while they received outpatient treatment. and the results show that all four patients continue to settle down in normal school life. Conclusions : This study closely reviewed the mental disorder of school refusal cases and showed that the Oriental medical treatment was effective in helping the patients come back to school. More future research is required to better treatment for school refusal cases in oriental medicine.

• The Korean Society of Law and Medicine
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• v.21 no.3
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• pp.117-144
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• 2020

In accordance with Article 15 of the Medical Law, medical personnel in Korea cannot refuse treatment of a patient unless there is a justifiable reason, and violation of this obligations is subject to criminal penalties. Japan also stipulates the same content in the law. However, this violation of obligations in Japan is not subject to criminal penalties, and is used as a judgment element of the liability for damages of doctors only in the case of damage to the patient. However, in both countries, it is difficult to interpret and apply the law because the regulation is a little ambiguous. In particular, the key is to find out what is the justifiable reason for the doctor to refuse treatment of the patient. Recently, Japan has completed the work of re-examining the discussion on medical refusal from a modern perspective in terms of improving the excessive working environment of doctors. On the other hand, in Korea, it is not clear in what cases it is possible to refuse treatment. because there is a lack of systematic discussion on medical refusal. Rather, unnecessary misunderstandings and controversies have resulted in the loss of trust between patients and doctors. In Korea, there is already a legal right for a doctor to reject it according to his religious beliefs or conscience in the implementation of the suspension of life-sustaining treatment decisions. And in the case of an abortion, debates are underway that doctors should be given the right to refuse it. This study introduces the current state of discussion in Japan, and examines the issues surrounding medical refusal in Korea. It is hoped that this study will facilitate further discussions on the medical refusal.

• Journal of the Korean Wood Science and Technology
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• v.28 no.1
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• pp.42-47
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• 2000

This study was designed to investigate the effect of treatment variables on CCA treatment of Japanese red pine (Pinus densiflora), Japanese larch (Larix leptolepis), and ezo spruce (Picea jezoensis) round posts. Variables included were duration of initial vacuum (30, 45, or 60 minutes) and maximum pressure applied (8.5, 10.5, or 14.0 kg/$cm^2$), and maximum pressure was maintained until refusal point was reached. Regardless of wood species, extending the duration of initial vacuum more than 30 minutes did not affect treatability. Increasing pressure did not affect preservative penetration; however, preservative retention was affected by pressure levels, particularly at higher level (14.0 kg/$cm^2$). Preservative penetration depth of Japanese red pine met a minimum requirement specified by Notification of Korean Forestry Administration (No. 1999-8) for hazard class H5 of CCA-treated wood. Penetration of preservative in both Japanese larch and ezo spruce was not deep because of shallow sapwood thickness of these species, so pretreatment such as incising should be considered if these species are treated with preservatives. Although retention in Japanese red pine was not significantly increased even with 14.0 kg/$cm^2$, that of refractory Japanese larch and ezo spruce was significantly increased with the application of 14.0 kg/$cm^2$. Effect of treatment variables on refusal time was unclear; however, it is cleared that the refusal time was shortened with the increase in sapwood thickness.

• Fire Science and Engineering
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• v.19 no.4 s.60
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• pp.47-56
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• 2005

The regulation on organization and operation of rescue and aid party was amended. This Regulation is designed to provide legal formality in order to protect not only the patients' right but also 119 rescuers from liability, which is due to treatment refusal by patient and the discretionary refusal of transfer by 119 rescuers on the non-emergency situation. This study looked over the constitute of violation of emergency medical service act related to the discretionary refusal of 119 rescuers, the criminal liability owing to omission and the possibility of national indemnities on the damage of patients. This study also analyzed the courts' decision and attitude by exploring overseas judicial precedents and examined what should be considered on the execution of the newly enacted law. Finally, this study put emphasis on the importance of medical director's control, documentation of every procedure, 119 rescuer's authorization on the refusal of transfer by securing patient's informed consent.

• The Korean Society of Law and Medicine
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• v.18 no.2
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• pp.105-138
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• 2017

This is case comments of several representative legal cases regarding self- determination right of patient. In a case in which an intoxicated patient attempted suicide refusing treatment, the Supreme Court ruled that the medical team's respect for the patient's decision was an act of malpractice, and that in particular medical situations (medical emergencies) the physician's duty to preserve life supersedes the patient's rights to autonomy. Afterwards, at the request of the patient's family, and considering the patient's condition (irrecoverable death stage, etc.) consistent with a persistent vegetative state, the Supreme Court deduced the patient's intention and decide to withdraw life-sustaining treatment. More recently, regarding patients who refuse blood transfusions or other necessary treatment due to religious beliefs, the Supreme Court established a standard of judgment that can be seen as conferring equal value to the physician's duty to respect patient autonomy and to preserve life. An empirical study of legal precedent with regard to cases in which the physician's duty to preserve life conflicts with the patient's autonomy, grounded in respect for human dignity, can reveal how the Court's perspective has reflected the role of the patient as a decision-making subject and ways of respecting autonomy in Korean society, and how the Court's stance has changed alongside changing societal beliefs. The Court has shifted from judging the right to life as the foremost value and prioritizing this over the patient's autonomy, to beginning to at least consider the patient's formally stated or deducible wishes when withholding or withdrawing treatment, and to considering exercises of self determination right based on religious belief or certain other justifications with informed refusal. This will have a substantial impact on medical community going forward, and provide implicit and explicit guidance for physicians who are practicing medicine within this environment.

• The Korean Journal of Emergency Medical Services
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• v.13 no.3
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• pp.77-90
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• 2009

Civil complaints and lawsuits filed in the process of providing emergency medical service include fall accident on the way of carrying the patient, transfer consent, refusal and rejection of rescue request, range and behavior restriction of emergency medical technicians, false registry of logbook, neglect of duty and emergency patient, and violation of traffic laws on the way of dispatch to the scene of accident. This study suggested the measures by cases as follows. 1. The accidents on the way of carrying a patient could be divided into fall of patient and fall by paramedic's mistake. In the former case, damages caused by the ambulance's shaking must be notified to the patient and guardian and recommended to fasten seat belt, in the latter case, the plan of patient's posture, route of transport, rescue and equipments should be comfirmed before fixing the patient. 2. Transfer consent must be made as implied when the patient is unconscious under delusion and was not able to consent physically, and paramedic must take an action by his judgment and record details of services on logbook. 3. When a patient refused to transfer, get 'confirmation of transfer refusal' and inform him of refusal. Paramedic should receive the signature. In addition, in case of refusal, transfer request should be made after hearing doctor's opinion and it should be notified to transfer request and superintendent of fire station after making 'confirmation of transfer refusal'. 4. Emergency medical technicians should perform their duties within the range of services prescribed by Article 41 of Law of Emergency Medical Service and Article 33 of Its Enforcement Regulations and shall not make announcement of death. In case of reporting the death to guardian, it is desirable to use record data like ECG results. 5. The best way to have protection from legal problems is making and keeping the exact records of accident and patient. Paramedic should not mention his subjective opinion about the accident-related matter. He must record correctly and keep the original medical records. 6. As emergency medical technicians are responsible for taking care of emergency patients, they must contact a briefing room when they meet a difficult situation suddenly due to vehicle stop or treatment of other patients and then must have support from neighboring hospital and other safety centers. 7. Since the ambulance operator is responsible for safety and careful driving of ambulance, he must be careful when he violates traffic regulations unavoidably. The operator should drive slowly below 10km/h at an intersection and pass it after getting way from general vehicles driving from all directions.

• Journal of The Korean Society of Clinical Toxicology
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• v.3 no.1
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• pp.33-39
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• 2005

Purpose: Nowadays the Korean society is in the center of time of the social change. Because of dissociation of traditional family, IMF (International Monetary Fund) crisis and economic recession, the mortality rate of suicidal attempts are increasing annually. The majority of suicidal attempts were by poisoning considering the characteristics of korean society. Therefore we studied to find out the characteristics of suicidal poisoning before and after social economic stress, and to suggest the direction for the proper management. Methods: We reviewed medical records of 547 patients of suicide by poisoning who visited the emergency medical centers of St. Mary's hospitals from 1997 to 2004. For the annual trends analysis, we analyzed the demographic and toxicologic data of these patients compared with before and after IMF crisis (1998) and the economic recession ($2003\~2004$). Results: At the time of IMF and the economic recession, the number of suicidal poisoning increased, especially in fifth decade. The refusal rate of toxicological emergency treatment increased. Also the mortality rate and the admission rate to ICU (Intensive Care Unit) increased during the same period. In the result of the comparison analysis, clinical severity and mortality of social problem group were higher. However they couldn't be treated appropriately because of financial problem and the family indifference. Conclusion: At the economic recession period, the severity of suicidal poisoned patients was high. But the refusal rate of toxicologic treatment also increased, so the patients had lost the chance for proper toxicologic treatment. Therefore they would be supported by medical institution and public health.

• Journal of The Korean Society of Inherited Metabolic disease
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• v.18 no.2
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• pp.50-54
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• 2018

Jehovah's Witnesses do not accept blood transfusions, because of their particular interpretation of the Old and New Testaments. When people with such religious convictions are in need of medical care, their faith and belief may become an obstacle for proper treatment, and pose legal, ethical, and medical challenges for the health care providers. We report two inherited metabolic disorder cases in South Korea where the infants died whilst under medical care because of parental refusal of blood transfusions for religious reasons. Case 1 had methylmalonic acidemia, Down syndrome and associated congenital cardiac anomalies requiring surgery. Case 2 had anemia and methylmalonic acidemia requiring dialysis to treat hyperammonemia and metabolic acidosis. For effective medical management, they needed life-saving blood transfusions. As a part of alternative treatment, Erythropoietin was administered in both cases. As a result, two babies died from their extremely low hemoglobin and hematocrit. The hemoglobin concentrations below 2.7 g/dL without cardiac problem and 5.4 g/dL with cardiac anomaly complicated by pulmonary hypertension are considered life-threatening hemoglobin threshold. The medical professional must respect and accommodate religious beliefs of the patients who can make informed decisions. However, when parents or legal guardians oppose medical treatment of their babies and incompetent care receivers on cultural and religious grounds, the duty to assist and save persons exposed to serious danger, particularly life-threatening events must come first.

• Journal of Korean Critical Care Nursing
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• v.9 no.2
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• pp.48-60
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• 2016

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to identify the attributes of the concept, of psychological resistance to antihypertensive medication. Methods: The study was conducted in accordance with Walker and Avant's conceptual analysis process. We reviewed 47 related studies selected from 4 international and Korean databases including Medline, CINAHL, NDSL, and RISS to perform the analytical processes from January 1980 to September 2015. Results: The attributes of psychological resistance to antihypertensive medication include 1) reservation, 2) opposition, 3) denial, 4) refusal, and 5) seeking alternative therapy. The antecedents of the concept can be classified into patient factors such as reactance trait and knowledge deficit, provider factors, interpersonal factors, and environmental factors. The consequences of psychological resistance to antihypertensive medication are non-compliance, deterioration of the disease, developing complications, increased anxiety, and changes in life. Conclusions: The concept of psycho logical resistance to antihypertensive medication can provide guidance for the development of an intervention program that promotes the compliance to medication regimen of hypertensive patients. Further research needs to be done to develop a measurement tool for psychological resistance to antihypertensive medication.