Frequent medical accidents and tightening of doctor-patient relations...Should the operating room be monitored in disputes in South Korea?
[Global Times reporter Zhang Jing] As medical incidents continue to occur and the relationship between doctors and patients has become tense, South Korea’s ruling party, Democratic Party member Kim Nam-kuk, formally submitted to the National Assembly in early July an amendment to the Medical Law on obligatory installation of monitoring equipment in operating rooms. A topic recently returned to the public eye. South Korea’s KBS TV reported on the 30th that at the relevant press conference on the same day, Lee Jae-myung, a popular candidate for the next presidential election and Governor of Gyeonggi Province, said that setting up monitoring can allow patients’ families to understand the entire diagnosis and treatment process, build patient trust in doctors, and reduce unnecessary dispute.
According to a report from the Korea Herald on the 30th, the lawmaker Kim Nam-kook, who submitted the bill, said that doctors and patients in the operating room are currently in a state of information mismatch. If the patient is unconscious under anesthesia and his family members are not allowed to enter the operating room, it will be "difficult to fundamentally prevent the occurrence of medical accidents and sexual crimes." According to data from the National Police Agency of the Republic of Korea, between 2014 and 2019, 611 doctors were arrested for sexual crimes. Among them, a plastic surgeon had sexually assaulted 3 patients under anesthesia during the operation.
In October last year, a simple tonsillectomy at the Pusan University Hospital resulted in the death of a 6-year-old girl, Kim Dong-hee. The medical accident was once a hot spot in South Korea. In 2016, Kwon Dae-hee performed facial contour plastic surgery at a plastic surgery hospital in Seoul. Unfortunately, due to excessive blood loss, the survivors of the victims of the medical accident that caused widespread concern in Korean society gathered together and asked to install surveillance in the operating room. Most Koreans also support the installation of surveillance equipment in operating rooms. Yonhap News Agency reported that tens of thousands of people recently petitioned on the Blue House official website to support this bill. South Korean investigative agency "Real Meter" announced on the 23rd the survey results also showed that more than 70% of the South Koreans approve of installing surveillance in operating rooms, but oppose it on the grounds of "possibly infringing on personal privacy" and "may lead to conservative medical behavior". Only 10.9%, another 15.3% answered "don't know".
Although most people agree, the medical community is still very reluctant to install surveillance in the operating room, believing that this is "treating the doctor as a criminal suspect." Members of the previous two Congresses had proposed similar bills, but they were met with fierce opposition from the medical profession and ultimately failed to pass. According to reports, the Korean Medical Doctor Association clearly opposed this bill this time. A related person from the Korean Medical Association stated that if monitoring is installed in the operating room, some doctors will be distracted by the "monitoring eyes" and it will be difficult for them to carry out medical activities at their full capacity, which will instead harm patients. The person also emphasized that if the personal information collected during surveillance is leaked, it will also cause serious consequences.
According to reports, South Korea’s current law only requires monitoring equipment to be equipped in police interrogation rooms, prosecutor’s offices, and child care centers. A doctor in Busan who did not want to be named complained: "I want to know why I am staring at the hospital? Why not install surveillance in restaurants across the country? Don't people worry about the sanitary management of the food served in restaurants?"