의료사고 피해구조에 관한 고찰

A Study on the Medical Accident and Malpractice Relief System in Korea

In the 1980s, not only medical accident but also medical disputes became social problems in the nation, and from the year of 1988 medical circles as well as the government started to discuss enactment of laws of dispute settl ement in medical malpractice. The purpose of enactment of laws of dispute settlement in medical malpractice was to regulate dispute settlement in medi cal malpractice as well as compensation for losses and damages and to com pensate for people's life and physical injury as well as losses and damages of the properties promptly and fairly and to build up stable medical examinat ion and treatment environment. The drafts of proposed laws were automatically cancelled at expiration of the 14th, 15th and 16th term National Assembly because of disagreement a mong physicians, medical service consumers (patients), the government's dep artment in charge and other interested parties. Lawmakers' drafts of propos ed law, that is to say, not only a draft of the Law on Prevention of Medical Accidents and Malpractice Relief 1) but also a draft of the Law on Health a nd Medical Dispute Settlement 2), were submitted to the 17th term National Assembly, and associated sub-committee of National Assembly had difficultie s at investigation to cancel the law at expiration. In such a way, enactment of the law of medical dispute settlement continued to attempt as many as 22 years. As the press released recently, what was worse was confrontation among the government, medical circles and non government organizations concerning introduction of open-type investment hospitals jeopardized base of the Law of Medical Service that was enacted in 1973. This study examined medical accidents and medical dispute in malpractice briefly to investigate the law of medical dispute settlement and malpractice relief and to discuss issues in dispute.