의사윤리지침의 주요내용과 실천 방안*1)

Abstract

Although the Korean Medical Association(KMA)'s Code of Medical Ethics, officially announced in November, 2001, has not yet been widely used among the Korean physicians in everyday practice, this comprehensive normative document, consisting of 6 chapters, 78 articles and 193 clauses, marks a significant progress in the Korean medical professional ethics. This paper presents some key contents of the document, in comparison with the American Medical Association(AMA)'s equivalent, AMA's Code of Medical Ethics 2002-2003 edition. This paper shows that there are striking resemblances in contents between these two documents. Some of such topics include substance abuse(8.15), nonscientific practitioners(3.01), sexual misconduct in the practice of medicine(8.14), records of physicians(7.02), neglect of patient(8.11), patient information(8.12), substitution of surgeon without patient's knowledge or consent(8.16), and various issues in confidentiality : care for minors(5.055); attorney-physician relation(5.06); computers(5.07); insurance company representative(5.08); and industry-employed physicians and independent medical examiners(5.09). Other similarities can also be found in opinions on social policy issues, such as allocation of limited medical resources(2.03), futile care(2.035), clinical investigation(2.07), financial incentives for organ donation(2.15), withholding or withdrawing life-sustaining medical treatment(2.20), physician-assisted suicide(2.211), and HIV testing(2.23). This paper then articulates four articles of the KMA's Code of Medical Ethics which differ from the existing Korean laws, and draws a table to make a contrast. This paper concludes with a few suggestions to make the implementation of the KMA's Code of Medical Ethics soft and easy. First, the KMA's Central Ethics Council should play a key role to create favorable environment. Second, the Ethics Committee of each organization should recruit active and independent members. Third, an educational program should be developed, in which the KMA's Code of Medical Ethics is to be used as a teaching material for continuing medical education(CME). Fourth, a task-force team is proposed to form in order to keep the content of the document updated on a regular basis.