Intention to Reuse Suction Tips During COVID-19 Outbreak... Court Rules "License Suspension Justified"

[Asia Economy Reporter Seongpil Cho] A dentist who reused disposable suction tips while treating patients during the early outbreak of COVID-19 appealed to the court to cancel the suspension of his license, but the request was denied. Suction tips are medical devices used during dental treatments to suction saliva and foreign substances from the patient's mouth.

According to the legal community on the 21st, the Administrative Division 5 of the Seoul Administrative Court (Chief Judge Jung Sang-gyu) ruled against dentist A in a lawsuit filed against the Minister of Health and Welfare seeking to cancel the suspension of his medical license. The court stated, "The act of a dentist reusing disposable suction tips during treatment poses a significant risk to patients' lives and health and undermines medical order, thus strict sanctions are necessary," and added, "The Ministry of Health and Welfare's disciplinary action cannot be considered unlawful."

From December 2019 to April of last year, A reused disposable suction tips while treating patients at his dental clinic and was consequently suspended from practicing medicine for six months by the Ministry of Health and Welfare. Investigations revealed that during this period, he treated about 50 patients daily and reused suction tips approximately three times. This was during the time when COVID-19 originated in Wuhan, Hubei Province, China, and infections were spreading in South Korea.

A filed a lawsuit in December last year, arguing that the Ministry's disciplinary action was illegal due to abuse and deviation of discretion. He claimed, "I sterilized the suction tips before reuse, no harm occurred to patients, and the Ministry's punishment is excessively harsh compared to similar cases." However, the court rejected A's claims, stating, "It is difficult to find any circumstances indicating that the Ministry chose a harsh measure that unfairly lost equity without reasonable grounds compared to other medical professionals."