의사의 금연 건강지도의무와 의료과오 책임

Tobacco has become the world's leading cause of deaths and diseases. And the tobacco use and dependence itself is a kind of diseases, so-called "mental and behavioural disorders due to use of tobacco" in 「International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems(ICD-10)」 and 「Korean Standard Classification of Diseases」. The tobacco use and dependence is a chronic disease that requires repeated clinical interventions and multiple attempts to quit. But effective treatments to the tobacco use and dependence are developed and exist that can significantly increase the rate of long-term smoking abstinence. So the physicians should warn smoking patients about the dangers of smoking to the health and the life, and the clinicians ought to provide one of more of the treatments which have been proven effective in helping smokers quit to smoke. It has been concluded that if a doctor failed to provide effective treatment for smokers, and the smokers subsequently died of the smoking- related conditions(tobaccosis) or became incapacitated by the tobaccosis, the smokers were considered in the medical malpractice. Thus the smokers could sue the physician for medical malpractice, claiming that the doctor's legal responsibility of appropriate treatments including smoking-cessation which the physician deliberately or negligently breached.