No abstract available.
Codes of Ethics*

Minister of Health has set up tasks for following years. (1) Strengthen the local levels, voluntary physician for lower level. (2) Completing health network at communes, mountain villages. (3) Strengthen medical ethics by a specific activities. (4) Especially concern people who had dedication for country or poor. (5) Preventing disaster and epidemic diseases
Ethics, Medical ; Codes of Ethics

Medical ethics, autonomy, and self-regulation form the core of medical professionalism. Therefore, codes and guidelines regarding ethics are key documents that demonstrate the identity of physicians as a professional group in a society. In Korea, foreign declarations such as the Hippocratic Oath and the Geneva Declaration have been translated and introduced, while medical ethics guidelines have been introduced from developed countries. In 1961, 1965, and 1979, the Code of Medical Ethics was created and revised, but only in 1997 did Korean doctors develop their own ethics guidelines and codes reflecting their identity in Korean society. In order for these guidelines and codes to be effective living documents, they should be regularly modified to reflect changes in the medical environment and the field of medicine. In response to the urgent need to establish strict norms of medical professionalism in the 21st century due to internal and external problems in Korean society, the Korean Medical Association worked to revise the Ethics Code and Guidelines in 2016. This article reviews the history of how the Korean Code of Ethics and Guidelines has changed and examines the contents of the Code of Ethics and Guidelines as amended in 2016.
Codes of Ethics ; Developed Countries ; Ethics ; Ethics, Medical* ; Hippocratic Oath ; Korea* ; Professionalism ; Self-Control

The road to publication can seem long and daunting. Further, access to published work is often limited to larger institutions that can afford expensive journal subscription fees. Gold open-access publications aimed to change the landscape of evidence-based science, allowing papers to be widely accessible without a subscription, often requiring an article processing fee paid by the author or institution. Regardless of the access model, reputable journals are expected to adhere to the publishing code of ethics and provide transparency in the peer review process. While the latter can significantly increase the length of processing time through multiple revisions, editors and peer reviewers provide expert opinions and valuable feedback, thereby safeguarding the integrity of the journal and the scientific process.
Publishing ; Codes of Ethics ; Feedback

Professional ethics can often encompass areas regulated by law. This is true of the Korean Medical Association (KMA) code of ethics. Therefore, doctors should consider their legal obligations when complying with medical ethics guidelines. A revision prepared by the KMA committee on medical ethics guidelines contains 5 types of amendments. First, some guidelines deal with areas that are not governed by current legislation. A second set of guidelines clarify the obligation to comply with current legislation by specifying “to the extent permitted by the law”. A third set of guidelines repeat the contents of current legislation almost verbatim. A fourth set of guidelines explain the content of the current legislation in lay language when a chance of misunderstanding is present. Fifth, some guidelines can be interpreted as being in conflict with current legislation. The statement that physicians must consider the content of relevant laws does not mean that they must accept those laws uncritically. At a minimum, doctors should avoid falling into legal difficulties because of legal ignorance. Furthermore, doctors must make efforts to revise relevant laws that are not acceptable from the point of view of medical ethics. If doctors continue this effort, they can maintain their professional dignity. The revision of the medical ethics guidelines is the beginning of this effort. If doctors understand the relationship between medical ethics guidelines and current legislation, it will be easier for doctors to comply with medical ethics guidelines in the clinical setting.
Accidental Falls ; Codes of Ethics ; Ethics, Medical* ; Ethics, Professional ; Jurisprudence*

Professional ethics can often encompass areas regulated by law. This is true of the Korean Medical Association (KMA) code of ethics. Therefore, doctors should consider their legal obligations when complying with medical ethics guidelines. A revision prepared by the KMA committee on medical ethics guidelines contains 5 types of amendments. First, some guidelines deal with areas that are not governed by current legislation. A second set of guidelines clarify the obligation to comply with current legislation by specifying “to the extent permitted by the law”. A third set of guidelines repeat the contents of current legislation almost verbatim. A fourth set of guidelines explain the content of the current legislation in lay language when a chance of misunderstanding is present. Fifth, some guidelines can be interpreted as being in conflict with current legislation. The statement that physicians must consider the content of relevant laws does not mean that they must accept those laws uncritically. At a minimum, doctors should avoid falling into legal difficulties because of legal ignorance. Furthermore, doctors must make efforts to revise relevant laws that are not acceptable from the point of view of medical ethics. If doctors continue this effort, they can maintain their professional dignity. The revision of the medical ethics guidelines is the beginning of this effort. If doctors understand the relationship between medical ethics guidelines and current legislation, it will be easier for doctors to comply with medical ethics guidelines in the clinical setting.
Accidental Falls ; Codes of Ethics ; Ethics, Medical* ; Ethics, Professional ; Jurisprudence*

Why should physicians be ethical? First of all, it is one of the categorical imperatives (golden rules) to be an ethical person. So as a human being, all physicians should endeavor to be an ethical member of the society. However, there is another important reason for physicians to be ethical, more ethical than any other members of the society. Medicine, the so-called learned profession, is defined by the knowledge held by their members and by the application of that knowledge to the needs of fellow citizens. The relationship between physicians and patients can only be secured when physicians succeed in obtaining trust from the public. Society will accept the professional autonomy and monopoly market power held by the medical organization only if the organization shows continuing effort of self-regulation according to their strict code of ethics. At now, physicians are facing a powerful challenge from the modern society that denies professional authority and stresses independence and self-sufficiency of individual social members. There is a clear tendency that modern society no longer sees medicine as a benevolent help by the paternalistic physicians to the patients in need but as a mere trade between providers and consumers. Any unethical behavior of physicians may justify the intrusion by the third party into the traditional doctor-patient relationship in the name of fair trade. In this sense, ethics of physicians may be the best policy to defend the long tradition of Hippocratic medicine.
Codes of Ethics ; Ethics* ; Humans ; Paternalism ; Professional Autonomy ; Self-Control

PURPOSE: This study was conducted to investigate the differences of the Code of Ethics, level of application of the Code of Ethics and consciousness of biomedical ethics of nurses about clinical practice experience, ethical values and biomedical ethics education experience of nursing students. METHODS: A descriptive research design, t-test and one-way ANOVA were used. The data were collected 1st June to 31st August 2016 from two large cities. The participants were 246 nursing students with a mean age of 22.57 years. Among them, 209 (84.6%) were female, 94 (38.2%) had clinical practice experience, 155 (63.0%) listed their ethical value as different depending on the situation, and 127 (51.6%) had biomedical ethics education experience. RESULTS: The scores were: awareness of the Code of Ethics of Nurses 4.29±0.60; application of the Code of Ethics of Nurses 4.24±0.64; and consciousness of biomedical ethics 2.91±0.19. There were significant differences in application of the Code of Ethics of Nurses (t=−1.97, p=.050); consciousness of biomedical ethics (t=−2.25, p=.025) related to clinical practice experience; and consciousness of biomedical ethics related to biomedical education experience (t=2.67, p=.007). CONCLUSION: Clinical practice and biomedical ethics education experience contributed to enhance the level of application of the Code of Ethics of Nurses and consciousness of biomedical ethics of nursing students.
Bioethics* ; Codes of Ethics* ; Consciousness* ; Education* ; Ethics ; Ethics, Nursing* ; Female ; Humans ; Nursing* ; Research Design ; Students, Nursing

PURPOSE: Recently medical dispute about plastic surgery is increasing rapidly as a result of growing surgery itself due to high interest in appearance and advertisement of plastic surgery. We wanted to find a way to prevent similar medical accident by making alternative plan of plastic surgery through case analysis of medical dispute. METHODS: 161 cases of plastic surgery asked for aid at Korea Consumer Agency and 41 cases judged at the court were surveyed. Items such as gender, location and type of hospital, goal and type of operation, making operation agreement or not, type of damage, result of process, result of lawsuit were studied from January 1, 2004 to December 31, 2006. RESULTS: Medical doctor have to explain about symptoms of disease, method of treatment, possibility of complication, prognosis to patients before therapy so they can make decision if they take operation by doctor or not. On this survey, among the patients who underwent re-operation or had complication, 88.1% (96 from 109 cases) of them didn't get enough explanation about possibility of complication before surgery. They brought lawsuit insisting they would not undergo operation if they got enough explanation about possibility of complication and result of operation before surgery. CONCLUSION: It is advisable that doctor must observe the duty of explanation before surgery and respect the right to decide of patient, make operation agreement and put down concrete progress note and store the pre and post operative photo to avoid medical accident. It is also needed to have guideline of therapy, Code of ethics, organization which deals with medical dispute, reconsideration of law to control that.
Codes of Ethics ; Dissent and Disputes ; Humans ; Jurisprudence ; Korea ; Prognosis ; Surgery, Plastic

Medical professionalism in Korea is underdeveloped because of a strong state that has been in place for the past one hundred years. If the government actively controls policies and regulates the professional associations under state corporatism, deterioration of professionalism is inevitable. The current medical insurance in Korea is unified as a monopsony, but it is not the 'bipartite corporatism' between the government and the medical profession such as the National Health Services (NHS) in Britain. All insurance matters related to a physician's practice, including standards of treatment and the physician's reimbursement, are handled by the government. Therefore, the authority of medical expertise is subordinate to the authority of the government agency, and physicians are forced to follow the goals and policies that are set by the government. Physicians' professional ethics are the core of their occupational control. The declaration of "Codes of Ethics" by the Korean Medical Association, before it was revised in April 2006, defined a "sincere fulfillment in practicing medicine" as a full duty of the physician's life. If this declaration was intended to be interpreted literally, all physicians in Korea could be asked to pursue identical lives with the same goals as their professional life as a physician. If it was not intended to be interpreted literally, then physicians may develop their own ethical approaches according to their individual perspectives on life. The former case is an unethical form of state control while; the latter case would make legitimate occupational regulation impossible. The ideal of medical service is an institutional attribute of an occupation and not a duty of an individual's life. Therefore, it should be possible for physicians to work under an occupational control that requires specific standards for the members of the profession and embodies their professional values.
Codes of Ethics ; Ethics, Professional ; Government Agencies ; Hypogonadism ; Insurance ; Korea ; Mitochondrial Diseases ; National Health Programs ; Occupations ; Ophthalmoplegia