약사의 복약지도에 관한 형사법적 고찰

Pharmacies are medical facilities that are as commonly used as or more than hospitals. Pharmacists working for pharmacies require a high level of expertise in that they deal with the human body, health, and life. Additionally, they have an obligation to do their best in providing knowledge services based on their expertise to patients who visit the pharmacy. The core of such pharmacist's duties is the duty of medication counseling. Proper medication counseling leads to maximizing patient compliance and minimizing side effects, resulting in national health promotion. However, the current regulations on medication counseling have difficulty in achieving the ultimate goal since they are somewhat complicated and the scope of medication guidance is narrowly defined. On the other hand, since the duty of medication counseling is a duty directly related to life, health, and the body, it should be noted that failure to fulfill this duty may result in civil as well as criminal punishment. Although a pharmacist's violation of the duty of medication counseling is relatively less illegal than a doctor's medical error, a pharmacist who fails to fulfill duty of medication counseling is subject to liability as a crime of act or omission under the general theory of criminal law. However, since ordinary cases are governed by the principle of trust between the pharmacist and the doctor who issued the prescription, it is assumed that the pharmacist can avoid criminal liability if he or she reads and interprets the prescription carefully and does not make a mistake in dispensing the drug.