Supreme Court Confirms Innocence of Doctors Reporting Advisors and Submitting Medical Records... "Legitimate Act"

1st Trial "Patient Personal Information Leak" → 2nd Trial "Prevention of Wrong Practices"
Supreme Court "Submission of Patient Surgery Records Constitutes Legitimate Act"

The acquittal of doctors who were prosecuted after submitting copies of patients' medical records to investigative authorities while accusing their supervising professor has been finalized.

Supreme Court, Seocho-dong, Seoul.

The Supreme Court's 3rd Division (Presiding Justice Lee Heung-gu) announced on the 21st that it upheld the lower court's acquittal of six individuals, including Mr. A, who were charged with violating the Medical Service Act.

In September 2017, Mr. A and others accessed patients' surgical records and submitted copies to the prosecution to accuse a plastic surgery professor at a university hospital. They alleged that Professor B, their supervising professor, violated the Medical Service Act by falsely recording in the medical records that he performed surgeries he did not actually conduct. However, Professor B was cleared of charges following the prosecution's investigation.

Subsequently, Mr. A and others were prosecuted for violating the Medical Service Act following a patient's complaint. The issue arose because they had submitted copies of 11 surgery-related medical records containing patients' personal information as evidence to the prosecution. When it was pointed out during the trial that the complaint for the criminal offense of violating the Medical Service Act, which requires a complaint by the victim, was filed after the statute of limitations had expired, the prosecution requested a change of charges to violation of the Personal Information Protection Act, which was approved by the court.

During the trial, Mr. A and others argued that their actions were unavoidable measures taken for whistleblowing in the public interest. However, the first trial court found them guilty, stating that "as handlers of personal information, they exceeded their authorized rights and leaked patients' personal information." Nevertheless, the court suspended the sentence and imposed a fine of 500,000 KRW.

On the other hand, the appellate court recognized Mr. A and others as whistleblowers. The appellate court stated, "Medical records such as operating room nursing notes appear to be the most effective and appropriate means to prove the allegation of surrogate surgery," and judged that "the legal interests protected by preventing wrongful practices within the hospital, which concern the life and body of people, outweigh the infringed legal interests."

The Supreme Court also affirmed the acquittal, stating, "There is no error in the lower court's judgment that violates the rules of logic and experience, exceeds the limits of free evaluation of evidence, or misinterprets the law regarding justifiable acts, which would affect the judgment."

[Correction Report] Acquittal of Doctors Who Submitted Medical Records While Accusing Supervising Professor of ‘Surrogate Surgery’ Confirmed by Supreme Court as ‘Justifiable Act’

This article was previously reported in the social section on July 21, 2023, under the title , covering the Supreme Court's acquittal of six doctors, including Mr. A, who were charged with violating the Medical Service Act.

In response, Professor B reported that after countersuing Mr. A and others, they received a disposition of suspension of prosecution for violating the Medical Service Act.

This report is pursuant to the mediation by the Press Arbitration Commission.