The Supreme Court upheld a high court ruling ordering an Oriental medicine doctor to compensate a patient who suffered liver damage from taking herbal medicine due to the doctor’s failure to warn of possible side effects.
It ruled Monday that the 46-year-old Oriental medicine doctor, surnamed Kim, should pay the patient surnamed Park, also 46, 20 million won ($19,000) in compensation for prescribing him herbal medicine that damaged his liver.
``Oriental medicine can cause a range of side effects. If patients take both regular and Oriental medicine at the same time, this could result in more serious side effects. Kim was obliged to warn Park of this when he prescribed the medicine. But he didn’t,’’ the court said in its ruling.
In 2005, Kim prescribed Park Oriental medicine without considering the latter’s medical history. Since Park was diagnosed with diabetes in 2002, he has been taking drugs to lower his blood sugar level.
But the patient developed hepatic insufficiency, a type of liver failure, after taking the herbal medicine for some time, and underwent a liver transplant. He then filed a compensation suit against Kim, seeking 470 million won in financial damages.
Lower courts issued conflicting rulings. In the first trial, the court cleared Kim of any wrongdoing, ruling that it was not clear whether Park suffered liver damage after taking the Oriental medicine.
But the appellate court ruled in favor of the plaintiff, saying the Oriental doctor was obliged to explain all possible side effects, particularly, when the patient took regular medicine at the time of prescription.