Several Issues on the Medical Act Revision

Medical Act is the substantial law regulating medical service providers' qualification, rights and obligations, and regulating establishment and management of medical institutions. The Korean Medical Act was enacted in 1951 in the commencement, and revised about 30 times until now. But, there were only 2 total revision, in 1962 and 1973. From that on, for the purpose of adopting to changing medical circumstances and easing unnecessary regulations, the necessity of total revision was proposed continuously. At last in August 2006, Ministry of Health and Welfare (Department of Medical Care Policy) established 'Medical Act Revision Task Force Team', and then 9 conferences were held. But, The Korean Medical Association objected to the revised bill very intensively. The first reason is that the bill was made in a mad rush, and the second reason is that the bill restricts medical doctors' self-regulation and discretion too much.

Legal Issues Concerning Informed Consent

An informed consent is a document signed by the patient or the patient's legal guardian(s) that signifies the acceptance that the patient will undertake a specific medical treatment suggested and explained by the health care provider(s). Recently, there have been an increasing number of circumstances where obtaining an informed consent is mandatory. However, a standard form and required content of the informed consent, as well as laws, regulations, and analyses regarding the concept of informed consent are not available. This article introduces an observation of the legal force of informed consent forms that are used in practice, and of the legal issues in connection with them.