판례 분석을 통한 한의사 의료기기 사용범위에 관한 한의학적 고찰

Objective: The goals of this study were to analyze each of the reasons adopted by the Constitutional Court or the Courts for Decisions determined to permit the use of medical devices by Korean medicine doctors and to look at the medical devices from a Korean medical perspective. Materials and Methods: For this study, several judicial precedent databases were used for searching judicial precedents that handle the usage of medical devices by Korean medicine doctors. Prior studies on similar issues were considered. The Korean medicine textbooks and related research studies were also used in this study. Results: From 2000 to 2018, a large number of lawsuits were filed regarding the legality of Korean medicine doctors using medical devices; approximately 20 final judgments or decisions were made. Among them, only two cases determined that Korean medicine doctors could legally use medical devices. Conclusion: The decisions in both cases could be interpreted as the judgments that Korean medicine doctors were allowed to use a medical device whose use or operating principles were commonly incorporated with Korean medical principles. That was provided that training was sufficient in the use of the medical device, to the extent that it could be used and that such use of the medical device was not feared to pose a health hazard.