Cross-Country Comparative Analysis of Legislation and Court Rulings in Wrongful Birth Actions.

Negligent conduct by health care providers can result in medical malpractice injury sustained by parents denied their right to decide whether and when to have children. In this review of the international medicolegal literature, the authors present a comparative analysis of the law of medical negligence in this context and a discussion of the grounds for compensable injury resulting from medical error. The discussion is focused on the legal provisions for compensable injury awarded to the plaintiff (expectant mother, parents of the born child, and born child) and the types of injury various legal systems recognize in such cases. The aim of this article is to provide medical malpractice investigators and legal professionals with an overview of the birth cases.

Abortion in Korea Since 1945 / 의사학

Since prehistorical era, the human has desired to control reproduction artificially. However, abortion, one of the productive methods has been prohibited to a certain degree by law in some countries, but the operation of abortion has been done in practice. Also, controversial arguments on legitimacy of abortion have been raised. In Korea, physicians operates abortions more than 2 million times each year. In spite of serious social problems, arguments on abortion have not been common yet. The efforts to find a good solution for abortion have not been very sufficient. Therefore, this study is to investigate the concerns for the conditions of abortion since 1945 (this year is the independent one from Japan's government) through a historical perspective and to suggest the efficient direction in policy. Since 1945, many women have had no choice but abortion for their basic life. The Korean government of legislated the Crimes of Abortion in Criminal Law in 1953. However, the number of women who underwent abortion increased since 1962 due to the governmental Family Planning Policy. In addition, the Mother and Fatherless Child Health Act was enacted in 1973 that tolerated abortion to some extent. The disparate treatment of abortion between Criminal Law and the governmental policy fueled the confusion to potentially pregnant women. The first reason why Korean women choose abortion is wrongful pregnancy. Compared to other countries, in Korea, abortion were operated for sex selection. To conclude, it is important to be implement positive sex education, proper contraception education by government and social publicization of arguments on abortion.