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

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.