Doctor Liable for Side Effect from Prescription Issued without Examination

A court held that a doctor is legally liable for the side effects if the doctor failed to exam the conditions of his/her patient prior to writing prescriptions. Accordingly to the ruling, the fact that the doctor warned his/her patient about the side effects does not exempt the doctor from liability.

The Civil Division 2 of the Northern Branch of Seoul District Court held yesterday in a wrongful death case seeking money damages for the death of a patient, "The court finds Defendant liable for the death of a patient, and shall pay to Plaintiff a monetary damages in the amount of W113 million [approximately $95,000]." When a patient died of liver failure after taking eczeman medicine, the family members of the deceased filed a lawsuit against Doctor Cho who treated late Kim.

In the opinion, the court ruled, "The medicine Defendant prescribed and applied to late Kim contained elements harmful to the liver. Thus, Defendant should have examined the conditions of Kim¢s liver. Nonetheless, Defendant negligently failed to take any examination. All he did was recommending the examination and warning the patient against the possible side effects. The court finds Defendant`s negligence proximately caused the death of Kim."

The court also found late Kim was comparatively negligent, and limited the liability of Defendant to 40%, saying, "But late Kim shall also be held liable for failing to take any actions even after Defendant explained the harmfulness of the medicine at issue herein, and Defendant recommended that Kim take examination."

In August of 1999, Kim died of liver failure after taking the medicine Doctor Cho prescribed for him to treat Kim`s water eczema. Upon his death, his family members commenced a wrong death lawsuit against Cho seeking monetary damages in the amount of 350 million won.

Jin-Young Hwang buddy@donga.com