Lawyers, with their constant opportunity for parctive, show a talent for public oratory that few dictors canequal. However, the physician, despite his more modest and hesitant delivery, has one great advantage over themost experienced lawyer. He is allowed to use slides. Slides of good quality conceal defects in oratory and theymake for a confident speaker and a contented audience. By contrast smudged, complicated or ill-prepared slides maydraw attention to minor defects in delivery and make the audience inattentive.
Aptitude ; Humans ; Lawyers

To check expert opinion about the investigation system of medicine-related death, model for "Death Investigation Center" was suggested and related questionnaire were requested. Between 15 December 2009 and 5 April 2010, we sent e-mails of the questionnaire which asked the opinion for the new postmortem investigation system. We sent the questionnaire to 3,289 lawyers and 4,523 doctors (total 7812), and received 100 replies out of the total. All the lawyers and doctors interviewed knew the importance of the postmortem investigation system. Most of them (87%) agreed to the introduction of the new postmortem investigation system. Some of them thought that protector's agreement was necessary for the postmortem investigation (21%), and more doctors were likely to participate with legal protocol (23%). If the postmortem investigation could not be performed due to the protector's disagreement, another specialized medical investigation should be needed to figure out the cause of death (85%). The new postmortem investigation system should be performed by the specific institution, and supported by the government (44%). In many expert's opinion, nonmedical experts such as lawyers and priests should be included for the institution of investigation for objectivity and neutrality (72%). This sample study finds that the postmortem investigation performed by specialized institution is necessary to determine the cause of death in the hospital. For the operation of the system, neutrality and the operating core would be the most important.
Cause of Death ; Electronic Mail ; Expert Testimony ; Humans ; Lawyers ; Surveys and Questionnaires

Medical records and expert opinion are very important in resolving various issues of law. This importance has increased recently as the result of growing number of cases before the courts. Unfortunately, however, the present situation is far less satisfactory, and particularly go with respect to medical reports and expert opinions, The problem is twofold, first, doctors are totally unable to investigate fully the medical history of a patient, when the patient is assigned for their evaluation. Medical records are not available to doctors, except when the records exist at the very hospital where the evaluation takes place. Second, lawyers cannot obtain independent counsel from doctors even for a fee. General criticism is that korean doctors are very much reluctant to give their opinion even when there exists a genuine conflict of medical opinions.
Expert Testimony* ; Fees and Charges ; Humans ; Jurisprudence ; Lawyers ; Medical Records

BACKGROUND: The study analyzes penalties imposed on organizations for breaching safety and health regulations. The research questions are as follows: what are the commonly breached safety and health regulations? How proportional are penalties imposed on organizations for breaching health and safety regulations in the United Kingdom? METHODS: The study employed sequential explanatory mixed research strategies for better understanding of health and safety penalties imposed on organizations. Actual health and safety convictions and penalties data for 10 years (2006 to 2016) were obtained through the United Kingdom Health and Safety Executive (HSE) public register for convictions. Overall, 2,217 health and safety cases were analyzed amounting to total fines of £37,179,916, in addition to other wide-ranging penalties. For thorough understanding, eight interviews were conducted with industry practitioners, lawyers, and HSE officials as part of the study qualitative data. RESULTS: Findings show that the Health and Safety at Work (HSW) Act accounted for 46% of all HSE prosecution cases in the last decade. This is nearly half of the total safety and health at work prosecutions. Moreover, there is widespread desire for organizations to comply with the HSW Act, but route fines are seen as burdensome and inimical to business growth. CONCLUSION: A key deduction from the study reveal significant disproportionality concerning penalties imposed on organizations for breaching safety and health regulations. On aggregate, small companies tend to pay more for health and safety offenses in a ratio of 1:2 compared to large companies. The study also reveals that the HSW Act accounted for nearly half of the total safety and health at work prosecutions in the last decade.
Commerce ; Great Britain* ; Humans ; Lawyers ; Social Control, Formal*

PURPOSE: This study was conducted to study the attitude of Korean lawyers toward withdrawal of life sustaining treatment, and compare and analyze different types of their attitudes. METHODS: Research design of this project was Q methodology approach. The study population was 24 lawyers, aged from 32 to 69 years. Q sample to investigate the attitude of the lawyers toward withdrawal of life sustaining treatment included 34 statements obtained from literatures, TV debate, and depth interviews of 5 lawyers among the lawyers included. After listening to the purpose and method of the study, the 24 lawyers agreed to fill out a survey asking sociodemographic information, and the information was distributed in 9 scale Q-sample. RESULTS: The collected data were processed through QUANL PC program and sorted into 5 types as follows: The first type was 'Choosing to withdraw life sustaining treatment', the second 'Withholding life sustaining treatment' regardless of the cost, the third is neutral type that claims that humans have the right to decide the death and life, and demands the proper legalization to protect such rights, the fourth type agrees to withdrawal of life sustaining treatment, nevertheless, admits that one has a rigt to withhold one's own life treatment, categorized as self contradiction type. The fifth type believed that 'Life and death are providential' with the faith, therefore, such authority to decide life and death belongs to God, but not human beings. CONCLUSION: In conclusion, the lawyer's attitudes toward withdrawal of life sustaining treatment were grouped into five different types as follows: 'Choosing to withdraw life sustaining treatment', 'Withholding life sustaining treatment', 'Demanding legalization', 'Self contradiction type', and 'Life and death are providential'.
Aged ; Human Rights ; Humans ; Lawyers ; Nursing Methodology Research ; Q-Sort ; Research Design ; Withholding Treatment

BACKGROUND: It is well-known that a decline in the prevalence of smoking among physicians has preceded a decline in the general population. For the purpose of finding out the reason for lower smoking rate in Korean medical doctors than that of general population whether it is due to knowledge of toxicity related to smoking perceived as health professionals or as the only leader group in society this study was investigated. We selected lawyers as a representative of other professional groups. We investigated smoking rate, habits and attitudes towards smoking in Korean lawyers and compared the smoking rate and attitudes to wards smoking in lawyers with those of medical doctors. METHODS: This study investigates smoking rate, habits and attitudes towards smoking in Korean lawyers. An anonymous self-administered postal survey was used. One-third of registered lawyers were sampled according to stratified random sampling. Among 1,401 target population, 463 (38.3%) responded. RESULTS: Among male lawyers, 38.0% were current smokers, 38.9% were ex-smokers and 23.1% were non-smokers, while 7.7% were ex-smokers and 92.3% were non-smokers among female lawyers. The direct age-adjusted smoking rate among Korean male lawyers was 42.1%. CONCLUSION: In comparison of the direct age-adjusted smoking rate among male lawyers, medical doctors and general population in Korea, the rate in lawyers was 42.1%, medical doctors 34.9%, and general population 67.6%. The smoking rate of lawyers was found to be higher than that of medical doctors, but considerably lower than that of general population. In comparison of the attitudes towards smoking between lawyers and medical doctors, the lawyers were found to have a lower level of support in questions of the knowledge about the harmful effects of smoking and smoking bans on health than medical doctors.
Anonyms and Pseudonyms ; Female ; Health Occupations ; Health Services Needs and Demand ; Humans ; Korea* ; Lawyers* ; Male ; Prevalence ; Smoke* ; Smoking*

BACKGROUND: Medical malpractice requires the establishment of the following elements: responsibility for the patient, a breach in the standard of care, causation, and damages. Anesthetic outcomes are complex and involve surgeons, anesthesiologists, and hospitals. Anesthesiologists think that medical malpractice cases are brought regardless of the quality of care, we undertook to examine if this perception is right. METHODS: Ten malpractice cases that involved surgeons, anesthesiologists, neonatalogists, and hospitals were randomly selected from a legal database. Case summaries were sent to forty personal criminal lawyers or professors of law, forty anesthesiologists, and a control group of forty middle or high school teachers with a questionnaire asking if malpractice had occurred. RESULTS: There were significant differences between anesthesiologists and lawyers in two cases (case 1 and 10). There was no significant difference between the lawyers and the control group. There was a significant difference between anesthesiologists and the control group in case 1 only. There were significant differences among these three professional groups in two cases as same as between anesthesiologists and lawyers. No significant difference was found between groups for the other eight cases. All three groups disagreed with the legal outcomes in cases 2 and 3. CONCLUSIONS: Lawyers and anesthesiologists did not demonstrate a systematic bias in eight cases. But, determined medical malpractice outcome differently in two cases. There was disagreement between the study groups and the legal outcome in two cases.
Bias (Epidemiology) ; Criminals ; Humans ; Jurisprudence ; Lawyers* ; Malpractice* ; Surveys and Questionnaires ; Standard of Care

OBJECTIVES: This study investigated the attitudes of a provincial population towards wills of individuals with dementia and related concerns to prevent civil disputes related to dementia in an aging society. METHODS: The target population was registered residents in a province aged 19 years or older. The population forming the sampling frame was 1478821 (as of May 31, 2013). With a confidence interval of 2% and significance level of 5%, 2540 participants were sampled. This survey used a structured questionnaire composed of two main parts : seven items of general information (sex, age, residence, marital status, education, occupation, and income) and Testamentary Capacity-Related Questionnaire-12 items (TCRQ-12) comprising four items of basic knowledge and eight items of specific situational questions, using a five point Likert scale. RESULTS: The respondents were favorable toward the guarantee of will-making capacity of individuals with dementia. Self-relatedness, disadvantageousness and undue influence are significantly associated with objection to the will of individuals with dementia. In the pre-evaluation of testamentary capacity of individuals with dementia, the respondents responded strongly and with more favorable attitudes for evaluation by medical specialists than by lawyers. Last, in acceptance of the denial of self-related will due to dementia, negative response was dominant over positive response. CONCLUSION: Although it would be desirable that the will or testamentary capacity of individuals with dementia should be guaranteed for maximum, institutional and professional approaches are necessary to prevent civil disputes related to dementia.
Aging ; Dementia* ; Denial (Psychology) ; Dissent and Disputes ; Education ; Health Services Needs and Demand ; Humans ; Lawyers ; Marital Status ; Occupations ; Specialization ; Surveys and Questionnaires

Forensic medicine doctors in NISI(National Institute of Scientific Investigation) have traditionally used handed-down or old anatomical terms when they put into words the external findings of dead body. And we have had no any traditional rule or accepted guide relevant to the description about the surface anatomy, especially in terms of our practice of forensic pathology and medicine. Korean association of anatomists has taken the head to revise the old anatomy terms mostly occupied with the old Japanese and banal Chinese types, and we have come to see the Hangeul anatomy terms. These new Hangeul anatomy terms are now used by younger forensic pathologists, newcomer forensic doctors, and present medical students. Present more experienced and older pathologists, however, still use the old terms. It is, therefore, no wonder that investigators, policemen, attorneys, judges and even laymen coming in contact with our autopsy reports might be confused with the terms expressed in that official and publicly trusted documents. We felt that it is time for appropriate guideline about describing the surface anatomy to emerge with the viewpoint of forensic medicine. So we explained and depicted what to designate the region which an external finding lies in and how to use the surface anatomy terms.
Anatomists ; Asian Continental Ancestry Group ; Autopsy ; Forensic Medicine ; Forensic Pathology ; Head ; Humans ; Lawyers ; Research Personnel ; Students, Medical

No fault compensation in perinatal medicine has been established to provide aid to patients in the event of disability due to a medical accident during delivery and to strive to resolve disputes quickly that contributes to reduce medical malpractice suit in the field of perinatal medicine. Furthermore, this system is aimed to establish a mechanism that achieves higher quality of obstetric care by analyzing the causes of accidents. This system is operated by Japan Council for Quality Health Care and 99.9% of childbirth facilities in Japan registered with this compensation system. Compensation system has two major functions including compensation and cause analysis and recurrence prevention based on cases. Compensation eligibility is reviewed in the Review Committee at the organization in Japan Council for Quality Health Care and currently 1,717 cases are judged as eligible cases out of 2,250 since 2009. The cause of each eligible case is analyzed in the Cause Analysis Committee one by one. The Cause Analysis Committee has 7 independent subcommittee and each subcommittee members are consistent of obstetricians, neonatologists, pediatricians, midwives and lawyers. Original cause analysis report is sent to childbirth facility and patient's family. Questionnaire survey demonstrated that 73% of childbirth facilities and 65% of patient family were satisfied with the cause analysis report. The number of medical lawsuit in obstetrics and gynecology is significantly decreased compared to those in all medical departments since the compensation system was introduced suggesting that these cause analysis reports may contribute the decrease in medical lawsuits. The major purpose of the Recurrence Prevention Committee is striving to prevent future cases of cerebral palsy and to improve the quality of obstetric care. To accomplish the purpose, the committee routinely collect information from individual cases and analyze quantitatively and epidemiologically. Furthermore the committee choose subject from cases to discuss for future prevention and provide wide public disclosure of the information with recommendation. The committee issued 6 reports until now and these reports have been distributed to childbirth facilities, perinatal medicine-related scientific society and administrative agencies.
Advisory Committees ; Cerebral Palsy ; Compensation and Redress* ; Delivery of Health Care ; Disclosure ; Dissent and Disputes ; Gynecology ; Humans ; Japan ; Lawyers ; Malpractice ; Midwifery ; Obstetrics ; Parturition ; Recurrence ; Societies, Scientific