The National Assembly passed an amendment to the Emergency Medical Service Act aimed at ending the problem of emergency patients being turned away by hospitals, a practice widely known in Korea as "emergency room runarounds."
At a plenary session on the 1st, the Assembly approved the amendment, which sets out rules for the swift transfer of critically ill emergency patients and obligates emergency medical institutions to accept them. Under the measure, if a suitable emergency medical institution is not determined quickly, the Central Emergency Medical Situation Room and the 119 Emergency Rescue Situation Management Center can designate a hospital to take the patient.
The amendment also establishes a procedure for hospitals to report when they cannot accept a patient. Emergency medical institutions must notify the Central Emergency Medical Situation Room when such a situation arises. The law further specifies legitimate grounds for refusing or avoiding emergency care. Those grounds include cases in which any one category of a hospital's emergency medical resources — facilities, equipment or personnel — is fully in use. The provision clarifies that such a hospital would be unable to provide appropriate emergency treatment if it took in any additional emergency patients.
Provisions reducing criminal liability for emergency medical workers were also strengthened. An existing discretionary clause allowing reduced criminal punishment when a patient is injured or dies in the course of emergency care was changed to a mandatory clause stating that liability "shall be exempted." As a result, emergency medical workers at hospitals that accept critically ill emergency patients can be exempted from criminal liability when they provide urgent care to prevent death, serious physical or mental harm, or a worsening of symptoms. The exemption applies only if the treatment was unavoidable and involved no gross negligence.
Separately, an amendment to the Special Accounts for Rural Structural Improvement Act, introduced by Rep. Lee Kae-ho of the Democratic Party of Korea, was voted down at the same session. Of 222 lawmakers present, 94 voted in favor, 60 against and 68 abstained. The amendment would have expanded the scope of transfers from the rural special tax project account of the rural structural improvement special account, allowing funds to go to the entire special account for balanced regional development rather than only to its regional autonomy account.
The vote drew opposition and abstentions not only from the People Power Party but also from within the Democratic Party. Rep. Kim Young-hwan of the Democratic Party voiced opposition during debate to the amendment introduced by a fellow party member. "The special account for balanced regional development is intended for spending on nationwide projects such as mega-region development initiatives and on balanced national development," Kim said. "Because the spending purposes do not match, this will cause trouble for a long time to come."
