Gwangju Law Office | Client Who Suffered a Perforation During a Health Examination, Successful Claim for Compensation

■ Act on Remedies for Injuries from Medical Malpractice and Mediation of Medical Disputes, Article 2 (Definitions)

The terms used in this Act are defined as follows.

1. “Medical accident”means a case in which harm is caused to a person’s life, body, or property as a result of acts performed by a health and medical service provider toward a patient, such as diagnosis, examination, treatment, and the prescription and preparation of pharmaceuticals.

■ Civil Act, Article 750 (Substance of a Tort)

A person who causes loss to another through an unlawful act committed intentionally or negligently is liable to compensate for that loss.

“In order to find negligence on the part of a medical practitioner in a medical accident, it must be examined whether the practitioner, although able to foresee the occurrence of the result, failed to foresee it, and although able to avoid the occurrence of the result, failed to avoid it.” (See Supreme Court Decision 86Daka1469, January 20, 1987, among others)

“Where the injured party proves an act involving medical negligence, based on the common knowledge of an ordinary person, committed in the course of a series of medical acts, and further proves that no cause other than that series of medical acts could have intervened between such act and the result, that is, that the patient had no health defect capable of causing such a result before the medical treatment, then unless the party who performed the medical act proves that the result was caused not by medical negligence but by an entirely different cause, easing the burden of proof so that causation between the medical negligence and the result may be presumed and liability for damages imposed accords with the ideal of a damages system whose guiding principle is the fair and reasonable allocation of loss.” (See Supreme Court Decision 2004Da52576, September 30, 2005)

The hospital that was sued argued that there had been no negligent act.

It contended that there was no evidence of any specific negligent act, such as repeatedly inserting and withdrawing the endoscope.

The Gwangju Law Office directly rebutted this argument.

Until the endoscopy began, the client had been in very good condition.

The client also had no underlying disease related to the colon.

However, all of the pain began only after the endoscopy was completed.

After complaining of pain, the client visited a university hospital and was diagnosed with colonic perforation.

It was clear that the hole that formed in the client’s previously healthy colon was caused by the endoscopy.

As soon as the client realized that something was wrong with the client’s body, the client informed the medical staff.

When the patient complained of severe pain immediately after the endoscopy, medical professionals should have been able to suspect that a problem might have arisen during the endoscopy.

However, the attending medical staff took no particular measures for several hours.

They conducted only an X-ray examination, and even then they merely continued to respond that the findings were normal.

As a result, the client had to endure great pain without any proper follow-up measures.

Based on these circumstances, the Gwangju Law Office emphasized that the negligence of the medical staff was clearly established, and that compensation for the loss should be made.

Immediately after the incident occurred, the client’s family and a representative of the hospital held a telephone conversation.

At that time, the hospital representative even acknowledged that the attending physician was at fault.

The Korea Consumer Agency likewise provided a similar response, stating that there appeared to be negligence in the medical treatment.

Based on these points, the Gwangju Law Office emphasized that the attending medical staff were at fault.

When a person becomes involved in a medical accident, the physical and psychological stress borne by the parties and their families can be very significant.

It is important to proceed with the related civil and criminal litigation in order to recover from the harm promptly.

However, as medical technology becomes increasingly advanced, the task of proving the negligence of medical staff has also become very difficult.

For this reason, in order to proceed with medical litigation, it is necessary to obtain the assistance of legal professionals with substantial medical knowledge and clinical experience.

The Gwangju Law Office is working to strengthen its medical litigation group, including by bringing on attorney Oh Gyeong-rok, who specializes in medical dispute cases.

If you need a consultation regarding a medical accident, please visit the Gwangju Law Office at any time.