Supreme Court: "Nursing assistant's re-fixation of blood bag with thread and needle violates Medical Service Act"

The Supreme Court ruled that a nursing assistant performing medical procedures alone, using medical needles and thread to secure a patient's skin and drainage tube without a doctor, is illegal.

Supreme Court

According to the legal community on the 10th, the Supreme Court's Second Division (Presiding Justice Kwon Young-jun) recently finalized the lower court's verdict, which sentenced a doctor and three nursing assistants to fines on charges of violating the Medical Service Act.

Neurosurgeon A instructed nursing assistant B to secure the drainage tube of a patient who underwent spinal surgery in June 2019. B performed the medical procedure alone, using medical needles and thread to secure the patient's skin and drainage tube.

The prosecution viewed this act as 'unlicensed medical practice' and indicted A, B, and the hospital's chief director C for violating the Medical Service Act.

They argued that since they did not newly attach the drainage tube but only re-secured the one attached by the doctor, it was merely an auxiliary medical act and not illegal.

However, the first trial court ruled that it was indeed unlicensed medical practice, sentencing A to a fine of 7 million KRW, B to 3 million KRW, and C to 5 million KRW. The court held that even if it was a re-securing procedure, the act of piercing the patient's body with a needle and tying a knot was invasive and constituted a medical procedure.

They appealed the first trial verdict, but the appeal was dismissed in the second trial. The second trial court also stated, "The nursing assistant's procedure constitutes a new invasive act and is therefore considered unlicensed medical practice."

The Supreme Court dismissed all appeals, stating, "There is no error in the lower court's judgment that violates the rules of logic and experience or exceeds the limits of free evaluation of evidence, nor is there a misinterpretation of the legal principles regarding nursing assistants' auxiliary medical acts or justifiable acts under the Medical Service Act that would affect the judgment."