의료사고의 책임 분배 제도에 대한 고찰

A Study on the liability distribution system for medical accidents: Focusing on comparison of the Medical Accident Handling Special Act and foreign legal systems

The South Korean government announced the essential medical policy package on February 1, 2024, explaining the need for reform to address the problems of the unfair medical ecosystem. In other words, criticism has continuously been raised that the medical market is distorted as essential medical care is provided with low compensation and non-essential medical care is highly compensated. The medical accident handling special bill is linked to the establishment of a medical accident safety net. In the case of essential medical care, due to the nature of high risk and difficulty, there is a risk that medical accidents may result in adverse outcomes such as death or injury to the patient, and the patient may be subject to high civil and criminal liability. Since the time required for finalizing litigation procedures is long compared to general cases, we intend to correct this and introduce it as a measure to rationalize the burden of civil and criminal liability on medical professionals based on insurance and deductions and to quickly provide relief to patients. As a foreign legal system that resolves civil liability for medical accidents based on the insurance system, the Japanese and Swedish systems both treat the area of medical accidents differently from other general personal accidents by providing prompt and sufficient compensation or compensation to the patient. Considering the special nature of medical accidents and the possibility of paying large sums of money, it is inevitable to diversify risks through the insurance system. In addition, considering the high prosecution and conviction rates for medical accidents in South Korea, there is a need for some special provisions for criminal liability when ensuring the continuity and stability of medical professionals' work and considering the original purpose of medical care. Therefore, the settlement of the Medical Accident Handling Special Act based on the insurance system and special criminal punishment centered on essential medical care is a direction that is requested to be introduced in our country's medical reality.