Even under the 'Shin Hae-chul Act'... "Half of Serious Medical Accidents Fail to Reach Settlement or Mediation"

[Asia Economy Reporter Hyun-ui Cho] It has been pointed out that even after the implementation of the so-called 'Shin Hae-chul Act,' which automatically initiates dispute mediation procedures when a serious medical accident occurs, only about half of the cases reach an agreement or mediation.

On the 6th, Rep. Yong-ho Lee of the National Assembly's Health and Welfare Committee analyzed the number of automatically initiated medical dispute mediations due to surgery over the 3 years and 6 months since the implementation of the 'Shin Hae-chul Act.' Out of a total of 580 automatic initiations, only 297 cases (51.2%) resulted in an agreement or mediation decision.

The average processing period for automatically initiated cases also increased each year, from 106 days in 2017 to 110 days in 2018, and 133 days in 2019.

The 'Shin Hae-chul Act' is a law enacted at the end of 2016 that allows the Korea Medical Dispute Mediation and Arbitration Agency to automatically initiate mediation procedures without the hospital's consent when a serious medical accident occurs, such as death, unconsciousness for more than one month, or first-degree disability (excluding autism and mental disabilities).

Looking at the number of automatic initiations over the 3 years and 6 months by case type, death accounted for the majority with 525 cases (90.5%), followed by severe disability (33 cases, 5.7%) and unconsciousness (22 cases, 3.8%).

By type of medical institution, tertiary general hospitals accounted for the largest proportion with 282 cases (48.6%), followed by general hospitals with 232 cases (40%), hospitals with 62 cases (10.7%), and clinics with 4 cases (0.7%).

By medical specialty, internal medicine had the highest number with 11 cases (20.1%), followed by surgery (110 cases, 18.9%), orthopedics (108 cases, 18.6%), neurosurgery (106 cases, 18.2%), and thoracic surgery (87 cases, 15%).

By cause of accident, symptom aggravation was overwhelmingly the most common with 484 cases (83.4%), followed by hemorrhage (34 cases, 5.8%), infection (33 cases, 5.6%), and organ damage (17 cases, 3.0%).

Rep. Lee stated, "Medical disputes cannot even begin mediation procedures if one party, usually the medical personnel, does not agree, so the automatic initiation system is precious for patients who have suffered medical accidents." He added, "Although many patients undergo surgery at large, skilled, and trusted tertiary general hospitals, nearly half of the cases do not reach an agreement or mediation after automatic initiation of medical dispute mediation."

He continued, "The period required from automatic initiation to closure has increased by about a month over three years, forcing bereaved families to endure unavoidable suffering for at least four months," emphasizing, "It is urgent to improve the system so that agreements or mediations can be reached more quickly and fairly for medical accidents that lead to automatic initiation."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.