The Effects of Criminal Punishment on Medical Practices in the Medical Environment.

Munjae Lee

doi:10.3390/ijerph16040604

Abstract

Recently, there have been cases in which doctors were criminally convicted for misdiagnosing a patient with constipation who then died of diaphragmatic hernia. The criminal punishment of doctors could create a side effect of reduced medical practitioners. This study analyzed the impact of medical disputes and deduced a plan to create a stable composition of the medical environment. An online survey was conducted with 79,022 doctors who are members of the Korea Medical Association. A total of 3109 responses were obtained, and the analysis used the questionnaire system of the Doctor’s News online survey system. The results demonstrated that doctors have become more psychologically inclined to prescribe overtreatments, avoidance treatments, and defensive treatments. Also, it was found that specialized agencies for medical appraisals were necessary. In order to resolve medical disputes objectively, it is necessary to improve credibility by securing the expertise of the Korea Medical Dispute Mediation and Arbitration Agency. In addition, there is a need for specialized agencies to undertake the medical appraisals and training of medical staff to build up their understanding of medical disputes. Thus, medical disputes can be minimized, and the fairness of medical dispute results can be strengthened.

Highlights

Most doctors face at least one case of malpractice across their career, and it often leads to costly and unresolved medical disputes
The surveys were conducted with the intention of analyzing the effect that the imprisonment of the three doctors had on medical practice
After the implementation of the Medical Disputes Mediation Act, the Korea Medical Dispute Mediation and Arbitration Board was established as an independent mediation institution for medical disputes [10]

Summary

Introduction

Most doctors face at least one case of malpractice across their career, and it often leads to costly and unresolved medical disputes. The number of medical disputes has rapidly increased as the trust between doctors and patients has become fraught in a system of low insurance, low bills, and low income, which leads to such situations as the three-minute consultation and the overall destruction of the healthcare delivery system. Due to characteristics such as the specialization of medicines, the specificity of medical practices, and the reticence of medical practitioners, it is difficult to recover the damages created by medical disputes. The patient must prove that the harm that resulted from the medical practice was malpractice and has to burden the responsibility of proving the illegality of the harm done

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion