의료사망사고에 대한 과실치사죄 성부에 관한 비교법적 연구

Recently, there has been much controversy regarding cases in which medical professionals were indicted or found guilty of manslaughter in cases where patients died due to medical accidents. Due to the perception that medical practice can lead to criminal liability, risky surgeries are being avoided, or the number of applicants for specialty courses in certain medical fields is decreasing. On the other hand, when civil liability for damages is disputed through litigation as a civil resolution of medical disputes, the burden of having to claim and prove medical negligence on the part of the patient is such that it is necessary to secure evidence through criminal litigation rather than civil litigation. Complaints are increasing. There are questions as to whether criminal sanctions are truly appropriate as a means of ensuring the quality of medical practice. As seen above, the discussion on the appropriateness of criminal sanctions for medical practice was confirmed to have many aspects in common even in foreign countries. Qualitatively guaranteeing the content of medical practice through criminal sanctions is bound to have limitations, and rather, active intervention by criminal sanctions may ultimately become an obstacle to the health and treatment of individual patients or the public as a whole. Passive and defensive medical practices can lead to death by failing to treat patients in need of active treatment to save their lives in an emergency situation in a timely manner, so what was simply a problem at the individual level of medical professionals is becoming a crisis for the entire medical system. I believe that the issue of whether or not to criminally punish medical practices should be reviewed from various perspectives from the perspectives of patients, the general public, medical professionals, and the medical system. Considering the so-called gap in essential medical care and the negative effects of defensive treatment, we should refrain from criminal intervention, establish an appropriate compensation system for victims of no-fault medical accidents, establish related systems to ensure active medical practice, and establish the truth about medical accidents. It will be said that organic measures are needed from various aspects, such as improving the appraisal system to reveal this.