Doctors seek bill for safer treatment conditions

A suspect in the murder case of a psychiatrist at Kangbuk Samsung Hospital is being escorted by police officers in front of the Jongno Police Station to head for the Seoul Central District Court for an arrest warrant review, Wednesday. / Yonhap

By Kim Jae-heun

Doctors' groups are seeking to set up a law that ensures a safer work environment, according to the medical industry, Wednesday.

The move came after the death of psychiatrist Lim Se-won, Monday, at Kangbuk Samsung Hospital in Seoul, who was stabbed to death during a consultation with a 30-year-old patient suffering from bipolar disorder.

The Korean NeuroPsychiatric Association (KNPA) will lead the plan according to Lim's family's wishes to come up with measures for preventing potential similar lethal attacks by patients.

“It is the bereaved family's wish to create a society where patients with mental problems can receive treatment without prejudice and discrimination under a safe environment,” a KNPA official said.

“We will collect public opinions too, and currently we are considering making it mandatory to have a backdoor for doctors to escape in an emergency situation. As few lawmakers have already agreed with the purpose of such regulations, we will rush to push for it.”

The Ministry of Health and Welfare has also announced it would prepare systematic and legal measures to protect medical staffers on duty, especially by taking it into consideration that psychiatrists usually have one-to-one consultation with patients.

Health and Welfare Minister Park Neung-hoo also expressed his regret over the doctor's death. “It is a terrible accident that a doctor was killed while treating his patient. We will come up with preventive measures to protect medical personnel by law along with the medical industry,” he said.

The incident came only days after the National Assembly passed a revision bill to give a patient up to 10 years in prison or impose fines between 10 million won ($8,929) and 100 million won if they attack medical staff in an emergency room.

Doctors' groups say such measures should be expanded beyond emergency rooms to other treatment rooms.

“This incident showed crimes against medical staff can take place not only in emergency rooms but also anywhere in the hospital,” the Korean Medical Association said in a statement. “Medical staffers are defenseless when a person approaches with the intent to attack, and this cannot be prevented by individual efforts.”

The incident also put the nation to shock, with a petition on Cheong Wa Dae's website calling for a safe work environment for doctors collecting more than 37,000 signatures as of Wednesday afternoon.

“A hospital is a workplace for various people like doctors, nurses and medical technicians. At the same time, it is a place where many patients receive treatments and fight for their lives. Attacking and threatening a doctor at a hospital is not only an act of violence against an individual doctor, but also an act of putting other patients in danger,” a petitioner wrote.

According to surveillance camera recordings, Lim first escaped from the patient to another consultation room through a backdoor. He went out to the corridor and told nurses and others to run. As the patient followed with a knife, Lim ran but fell down and the patient stabbed the doctor in the chest multiple times.

Lim was rushed to an emergency room for treatment but did not survive.