🚨 Essential Medical Care Gap Prevention Act: Protecting Emergency Healthcare and Balancing Medical Staff Rights

Today Korean Social News | 2025.07.15

📌 Fear of Another Hospital Shutdown... Patient Groups Demand "Essential Medical Care Gap Prevention Act Now"

💬 As doctors' strikes could stop emergency rooms and intensive care units again, patient groups are asking for the 'Essential Medical Care Gap Prevention Act' to be passed quickly. This law would allow immediate criminal punishment for doctors who stop working in essential medical areas without good reason, without going through administrative steps first. Current medical laws have limits in actually enforcing work restart orders, and people say legal improvements are needed. Patient groups warn that if this law doesn't pass, people's lives could be in danger again.

Summary

• The Essential Medical Care Gap Prevention Act prevents medical service stops in emergency rooms, intensive care units, and other essential medical areas.
• It allows immediate criminal punishment when medical staff stop working without permission.
• The key challenge is finding balance between protecting patients' right to life and medical staff's labor rights.

1️⃣ Definition

Essential Medical Care Gap Prevention Act means a law to prevent medical staff from suddenly stopping work in essential medical areas like emergency rooms, intensive care units, and newborn units that are directly connected to people's lives. Simply put, it's a law that stops medical staff from suddenly quitting when they're taking care of patients whose lives are in danger.

This law is being created to prevent the collapse of emergency medical systems caused by medical staff strikes and to protect people's right to life.

💡 Why is this important?

• Protects emergency patients' lives and ensures continuous essential medical services.
• Minimizes medical gaps caused by medical staff strikes.
• Guarantees people's basic right to medical access.
• Maintains stability and trust in the medical system.

2️⃣ Main Contents of the Essential Medical Care Gap Prevention Act

📕 Core Contents of the Law

• Essential medical areas are clearly defined. Main target areas include:

  • Emergency medical services provided in emergency rooms and emergency medical centers
  • Critical patient treatment services provided in intensive care units
  • Newborn treatment provided in Newborn Intensive Care Units (NICU)
  • Delivery and obstetric emergency medical care provided in delivery rooms
  • Dialysis treatment provided in dialysis rooms
  • Cancer treatment and radiation therapy for cancer patients

• Immediate punishment clauses are key. Main punishment contents include:

  • Immediate criminal punishment when essential medical staff stop work without good reason
  • Unlike current law, punishment possible immediately without administrative procedures like work restart orders
  • Up to 3 years in prison or fines up to 30 million won
  • Medical facility owners or managers also included as punishment targets
  • Heavier punishment for those who encourage or lead group actions

📕 Differences from Current Law

• It fixes limitations of current medical law. Main improvements include:

  • Current law: Work restart order → Order non-compliance → Criminal punishment (step-by-step process)
  • New law: Immediate criminal punishment when work stops
  • Current law: Real difficulties in delivering order documents
  • New law: Assumes delivery when work stops in public places
  • Current law: Relatively low punishment levels
  • New law: Stronger punishment and new heavier punishment clauses

• Application scope and exception clauses are made specific. Main contents include:

  • Valid reasons: Personal or family illness, natural disasters, unavoidable circumstances
  • Replacement staff secured: Exceptions recognized when enough replacement staff is secured
  • Advance notice: Some exceptions apply when notified at least 72 hours in advance
  • Labor union activities: Standards to distinguish from legal labor union activities
  • Individual treatment refusal: Applied separately from individual patient treatment refusal

Main Issues of Essential Medical Care Gap Prevention Act

1. Medical staff labor rights: Problems limiting constitutionally guaranteed collective action rights and labor rights
2. Punishment level: Effects of excessive punishment on medical staff morale and medical quality
3. Application scope: Setting clear standards and boundaries for essential medical areas
4. Fundamental solutions: Structural problems like medical staff shortage and poor working conditions remain unsolved
5. Enforcement reality: Questions about real difficulties in actual punishment enforcement and effectiveness

3️⃣ Support and Opposition Debates and Social Issues

✅ Main Arguments from Supporters

• The position that patients' right to life comes first. Main reasons include:

  • Lives of emergency and critical patients should never be exposed to danger for any reason.
  • Medicine is a service with strong public nature, so social responsibility follows.
  • Strict regulations are needed, just like other essential services (fire, police, etc.).
  • Current law cannot provide effective responses, so legal improvements are urgent.
  • Social costs and damage from medical staff group actions are too big.

• They believe securing stability of the medical system is necessary. Main claims include:

  • Reducing public anxiety by providing predictable medical services
  • Strengthening medical staff's sense of social responsibility
  • Establishing a stable operational foundation for medical institutions
  • Restoring public trust in the national medical system
  • Internationally, regulation of essential services is a general trend

✅ Main Arguments from Opponents

• They raise concerns about violating medical staff's basic rights. Main counterarguments include:

  • Violating the essential content of constitutionally guaranteed collective action rights and labor rights
  • Shrinking effects and lowered medical staff morale due to excessive criminal punishment
  • Authoritarian thinking that prioritizes legal force over individual conscience and judgment
  • Human rights-violating approach that treats medical staff as simple tools
  • Excessively strict regulations compared to other professions

• They argue that solving fundamental problems should come first. Main alternatives include:

  • Establishing proper supply and demand plans to solve medical staff shortage problems
  • Improving treatment and working conditions for essential medical area staff
  • Strengthening social respect and protection systems for medical staff
  • Expanding communication and participation for reasonable medical policy establishment
  • Encouraging voluntary participation through incentives rather than punishment

4️⃣ Related Terms Explanation

🔎 Essential Medical Care

• Essential medical care means basic medical services directly connected to people's lives.
• Essential medical care refers to medical services absolutely necessary to protect people's lives and maintain basic health. Emergency medical care, critical patient treatment, delivery, and pediatric medicine are typical examples.
• Characteristics of essential medical care include: First, it's directly connected to life, so delay or interruption is impossible. Second, it's hard to find replacement services, so it has monopolistic characteristics. Third, due to high public nature, national intervention and management are necessary. Fourth, 24-hour continuous service provision is required.
• Essential medical care has low profitability, so private medical institutions tend to avoid it, making the role of public medical institutions important. The government is strengthening support for essential medical areas and promoting policies for stable service provision.

🔎 Work Restart Order

• Work restart order is an administrative measure ordering the resumption of stopped medical work.
• Work restart order refers to an administrative measure where the Minister of Health and Welfare or city/province governors order medical staff to resume work when they refuse or stop treatment without valid reasons, according to medical law.
• Procedures for work restart orders include: First, confirming the fact of medical work stoppage. Second, judging whether there are valid reasons. Third, creating and delivering order documents to the relevant medical staff. Fourth, applying criminal punishment or administrative measures when orders are not followed.
• Current limitations of work restart orders include difficulties in delivering order documents, delays until enforcement, and lack of substantial enforcement power. To solve these problems, the Essential Medical Care Gap Prevention Act simplifies administrative procedures and includes clauses for immediate punishment.

🔎 Collective Action Rights

• Collective action rights are the rights for workers to unite and negotiate equally with employers.
• Collective action rights are one of the three constitutionally guaranteed labor rights (right to organize, collective bargaining rights, collective action rights), referring to workers' rights to take collective actions like strikes or work slowdowns to improve working conditions.
• Main contents of collective action rights include: First, strike rights to collectively stop work. Second, picketing rights to conduct peaceful protests or promotional activities. Third, boycott rights to refuse to use specific products or services.
• However, collective action rights are not unlimited and must be exercised within the scope of not harming public safety and order. Especially for public officials or essential public service workers, collective action rights may be limited or prohibited. The Essential Medical Care Gap Prevention Act controversy is also about finding balance between medical staff's collective action rights and people's right to life.

5️⃣ Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

Q: Will medical staff be punished for refusing treatment due to personal reasons?

A: The Essential Medical Care Gap Prevention Act mainly targets collective work stoppages rather than individual medical staff's personal treatment refusal. When there are valid reasons like personal illness, family emergencies, or natural disasters, they are excluded from punishment. Also, exceptions can be recognized when enough replacement staff is secured so patient treatment is not disrupted. However, when individuals stop work as part of group actions or refuse treatment of emergency or critical patients without valid reasons, they can be subject to punishment. The important thing is ensuring patients' lives and safety are not put at risk, while also guaranteeing medical staff's individual rights within reasonable limits. Specific application standards are expected to become clearer through enforcement regulations or guidelines once the law is finalized.

Q: Can this law solve the medical staff shortage problem?

A: The Essential Medical Care Gap Prevention Act is not a fundamental solution to the medical staff shortage problem. This law has more of a short-term response character to prevent medical gaps in emergency situations. The medical staff shortage problem requires more complex and long-term approaches. Fundamental solutions include expanding medical school quotas, securing residents in essential medical areas, strengthening regional medical infrastructure, and improving medical staff treatment. Rather, excessive punishment clauses could lower medical staff morale and accelerate avoidance of essential medical areas. Therefore, policies like improving medical staff working conditions, establishing proper compensation systems, and preparing protection measures for medical accidents must be implemented alongside this law. Ultimately, creating an environment where medical staff can voluntarily participate in essential medical care is more important than forced compliance through punishment, and comprehensive medical policies to support this must be backed up.