Unlicensed medical practices are prohibited by the Medical Act Article 27-1 and the Article 87 provides that a person who violates the Article 27-1 shall be punished by imprisonment for not more than five years, or by a fine not exceeding twelve milli...
Unlicensed medical practices are prohibited by the Medical Act Article 27-1 and the Article 87 provides that a person who violates the Article 27-1 shall be punished by imprisonment for not more than five years, or by a fine not exceeding twelve million won. The Article 27-1 includes practices performed both by people who are not medical practitioners and beyond the scope of their licenses by medical practitioners. Furthermore, a person who violates the Act on Special Measures for Control of Health Crimes Article 5 shall be punished by imprisonment for a life or not less than two years and by a fine not less than one million won not exceeding ten million won. This Article means the Additional Punishment Law on Specific Crimes to a person who violates the Medical Act Article 27-1 conducting occupationally for the purpose of profit.
This regulation by the medical license system is for to protect the health of the people and to secure the public health safety for it. The attitude which tend to extend scope of prohibition and punishment without considering permissible ranges, on the other hand, may result in ignoring the spirit of the law. For this reason, thinking about range of permission is important.
For a start, grasping the concept of 'Prohibited Medical Practice' is needed and it is commonly defined as an act which can cause danger to the public health safety unless performed by a medical practitioner. 'Can cause' means that there is apprehension of causing danger. Though this definition is quite appropriate, we have to make efforts to interpret the law consistently in specific cases because of the flexibility of that definition.
Additionally, forbidding unlicensed medical practices restricts several fundamental rights of the constitution, especially the freedom to choose and change their occupation of a person who is not medical practitioner and the patient's right to choose a particular form of treatment. Punishments based on unconstitutional prohibitions make them faced with serious violations of their personal liberties, properties and personality rights. Moreover, from the point of view of the correlation between law and society, it is socially required that some medical practices are turned to be permitted by law without licenses.
In that regard, the illegality and justification of the unlicensed medical practices deserves to be studied on seriously and enthusiastically. It must be understood that the criminal illegality and justification are based on both of the illegality of the act and illegality of the result. The main point of the discussion is finding out the legal basis and the scope of the justification. ‘Action which does not violate the social rules’ of the Criminal Act Article 20 is germane to the justification of a unlicensed medical practice. After conducting a study on the legal nature, effect and function of that Article 20, we will establish legal requirements of the unlicensed medical practices which does not violate the social rules.
As the result of the debate, finally, here I present an argument about legislation related to the unlicensed medical practices. It is necessary to create new regulations about licensing health professionals who conduct medical practices which are quite less hazardous and require less expertise, like acupuncture, moxibustion, chiropractic therapy, homeopathy, naturopathy. Besides, the punishment by the current Medical Act Article 87, 'imprisonment for not more than five years, or a fine not exceeding twelve million won' have to be replaced by 'imprisonment for not more than three years, or a fine not exceeding ten million won.' In addition to this amendment, the punishment by the Act on Special Measures for Control of Health Crimes Article 5, 'imprisonment for not more than five years, or a fine not exceeding twelve million won' must be substituted for 'imprisonment for a life or not less than two years and a fine not less than one million won not exceeding ten million won.'