The medical community seems to be wary of the repercussion of the recent court ruling to reissue a license to a doctor who had his license revoked due to the abandonment of his patient’s body.

The lenient verdict that has not considered the medical circles’ position on the case might trigger public criticism, which, in turn, spill over to other doctors and lead to excessive regulations, according to doctors and medical professors on Tuesday.

In July 2012, the ex-doctor injected an acquaintance who had asked for “a good night’s sleep” with 13 drugs, including psychotropic medication midazolam, general anesthetic Bekaron, topical anesthetic Narofin and lidocaine. Two hours later, the acquaintance died, and the doctor carried his body with his car and dumped it in a park.

The doctor was sentenced to a prison term of one-and-a-half years and a 3 million won ($2,420) fine for professional negligence resulting in death, abandonment of a dead body, and the violation of the Narcotics Control Act and the Medical Service Act, in February 2013. His medical license was also revoked in August 2014.

In August 2017, the doctor applied to the Health-Welfare Ministry for reissuing his license, but the ministry did not approve it. He then filed a suit against the ministry in March 2021 and won the case.

“Although the doctor made a mistake, it is in line with the purpose of the medical law and the public interest to provide a medical professional who shows sincere repentance with an opportunity to serve in the field that requires medical technology,” Administrative Department 5 of the Seoul Administrative Court said on May 14, deciding to reissue the doctor’s license.

The medical community is paying keen attention to the repercussion of this ruling. It appears especially concerned that the verdict would adversely affect the amendment to the “Medical License Management Act” now pending at the National Assembly’s Legislation and Judiciary Committee.

The amendment, also called the “license management strengthening law,” has expanded the scope of the medical license revocation to all serious crimes sentenced to imprisonment or more, including probation. The medical community opposes the revision, saying its scope of license revocation is so broad that licenses could be revoked if doctors get a suspended sentence for matters unrelated to medical care4.

However, there are also some signs of change, as voices are growing that doctors must not protect colleagues who committed a violent crimes like murder or rape.

In a survey of medical residents in October 2020, 69.5 percent of 1,464 respondents supported the revocation of licenses of medical professionals committing a violent crime, and only 30.5 percent opposed it.

“The medical profession itself requires high morality, and we are well aware of the public’s expectations,” said Park Su-hyeon, spokesperson of the Korea Medical Association (KMA). “We feel helpless whenever incidents occur related to unethical and immoral doctors.”

Park added that the medical community, like the rest of society, does not show compassion to doctors who committed murder or rape, stressing that only when there is a self-reform drive within the medical community can it protect other innocent doctors.

However, he made clear the KMA’s opposition to the legal revision to strengthen the management of medical licenses, criticizing it could lead to excessive regulation.

“Doctors who were punished for traffic accidents or become “economic criminals” in the process of their hospitals going out of business can have their licenses revoked,” Park said. “It is natural to harshly punish violent crimes but too cruel to cancel the licenses of economic criminals.”