Why Ambulance Chasing Doesn’t Pay in Korea

by Brendon Carr

This short bit in the Korea Times piqued my interest, as it illustrates why English-speaking lawyers aren’t standing by to right every wrong against Korea’s long-suffering foreign teachers of English:

Doctor Blames for Suicide Stemming from Wrong Diagnosis

A hospital is partially responsible for a patient’s suicide if the suicide was committed after a doctor’s wrong diagnosis, according to a court ruling Tuesday.

The Seoul Eastern District Court ordered the National Police Hospital to pay 15 million won ($13,000) in damages to the wife of a late patient, acknowledging a mistaken diagnosis by a doctor at the hospital affected the patient’s suicide decision.

In May last year, the doctor diagnosed the unidentified patient as having terminal stomach cancer. After a few days, the patient killed himself. A detailed examination, however, showed later that he had gastritis.

The wife filed a suit against the hospital, claiming her husband committed suicide from the shock of the diagnosis.

The court ordered the hospital to pay 15 million won.

“We recognize the wrong diagnosis influenced the patient’s decision to kill himself,” judge Park Kyung-gil said in the ruling.

“The patient himself is the most responsible for the suicide. But it seems that he had no other reasons to kill himself beside the erroneous diagnosis, as he had no mental illness related to suicide and was in no financial difficulty,” Park said.

The damages available in the case of shocking medical malpractice resulting in wrongful death were only W15 million (about US$13,000 at today’s exchange rate). Plaintiffs are responsible for nearly all of their legal costs (yes, the court awards money for “legal costs” to a successful plaintiff, but the costs award is based on a fanciful idea of what a lawyer should cost, rather than what a lawyer does cost), which means unless you’re able to represent yourself as a pro se litigant, careful cost-benefit analysis should be undertaken.

And, no, we don’t want to work on a contingency fee. Even 100% of W15 million doesn’t cover the cost of the trial.

1 Responses to This Entry

1. X. Adonish on October 03, 2008 @ 11:34 am

   First off, thanks for creating (and maintaining) this blog.  It is very informative to both those who are in the legal community in Korea as well as those abroad who are interested in the Korean legal market. 

   Although it was not the main point of the article, I think you correctly identified a problematic area in Korean law in that the courts are reluctant to award legal costs and that professional malpractice liability claims are still infant in Korea.  To extend this discussion further, however, I think that one major area of the law that has yet to mature is malpractice suits against lawyers and law firms.

   In a society where only 10,000 some attorneys service over 40 million citizens, it is inevitable that malpractice is bound to happen, either as an abuse of one’s somewhat unique position or as a result of an overload of work.  More specifically, in certain cases, I have seen conflicts issues pass by seemingly unnoticed with a single law firm representing both sides (either directly or indirectly) without adequately informing clients.  This is even more disturbing where such misrepresentation results in a lost case with the client left with virtually no remedy.  (i.e. in an arbitration case where no appeal is available, or where the case has been denied appeal by the court system). 

   Another aspect of this problem is that the Korean legal community in Korea is so small that most attorneys are reluctant, or even fearful, of suing other attorneys or law firms.  As you probably know, for lawyers in Korea, maintaining a reputation and network amongst other lawyers is essential to moving up the legal community hierarchy thereby resulting in better jobs, clients, etc.  (I won’t go into detail)

   In any event, I think that Korea needs to take a serious look at malpractice as it exists among all professions.  Especially, in the legal and medical communities where the ramifications of malpractice can equate to life-imprisonment or even death, we need a mechanism to ensure that laws are in place and enforced.  That way those who break the law are penalized and the penalty will hopefully deter future crimes.

   this being my first post on this blog, I hope it was in the proper format and not too long and boring…

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