Earticle

This study argues on establishing new concept of life by minimizing bioethical conflicts with new paradigm, not to continue conflicts under the Western concept of life. Furthermore, it maintains that human being has to righteously settle own mind from anger, desire or illusion; to comprehend the structure of dependent origination, an original relation of lives, and to practice it in real life. The concept of life which is under the influence has to be converted to understand in our own way of thinking. However, change of way of thinking on life is not an easy task. If it is confined in ontological way of thinking, not in thorough relational way of thinking, then, it would have much more risk to be trapped in egocentric concept of life. The basic principle of bioethics of Won-Buddhism is lying on the truth of Il-Won-Sang, thoroughgoing ethics of Fourfold Grace which emphasizing the relation inter-dependant life, and practicing the spirit of “Everywhere a Buddha Image, Every Act a Buddha Offering” which considers heaven and earth, the myriad things in heaven and earth as objects of Buddha offering.

Dieser Beitrag befasst sich mit der Frage, ob das verfassungsrechtlich garantierte Lebensrecht oder die Menschenwürde-Klausel im Bereich der Biotechnologie dem gesetzgeberischen Spielraum eine vorbestimmte absolute Grenze ziehen kann. Dazu wurde einigen Ansichten nachgegangen, die in Bezug auf den möglichen Zeitpunkt des Beginns der Menschenwürde vertreten werden, vor allem in Bezug auf die Möglichkeit der Entkopplung von Lebens schutz und Schutz der Würde beim Beginn des persönlichen Schutzbereiches. Auf Grund dieser Analyse wurde für die Tragbarkeit der vom Verfasser vertretenen Position, also der partiellen Entkopplung von Lebensschutz und Schutz der Würde argumentiert. Im letzten und abschließenden Kapitel wurde auf Grund der Kritiken an der Stimme, wonach sowohl Menschenwürde als auch Lebensrecht ab dem Zeitpunkt der Befruchtung absolut gewährleistet werden sollen, eine zusammenfassende Beurteilung darüber unternommen, welche Rolle eigentlich die Menschenwürde-Klausel bei der Regulierung der Biotechnologie spielen sollte, und in welchem Prozess die Rechtspolitik in diesem Bereich entschieden und durchgeführt werden sollte.

In recent years, our society has been inundated with a diversity of laws such as Bioethices and Safety Act, Internal Organs, etc. Transplant Act, and Safety, Management, etc. of Human Tissue Act to deal with new social problems. Under recent trends, there are a lot of matters to be reviewed, especially two issues, that is, whether to agree the surrogacy contract by law related to assisted reproduction, and what requirements are needed by law in case the artificial insemination is permitted. Furthermore, there is still possibility to be reviewed again for a couple of issues, that is, should it be charged for the organ donation under certain conditions to make them easier to acquire although the organ trade is prohibited by Internal Organs, etc. Transplant Act? and would it be admitted to trade bloods as one of the methods to solve the problems caused by chronic blood shortage? As the solution to the problems, there might be two options, one is to introduce the system of self-determination and self-obligation adopted in most states in the United States, the other is to introduce the system to make a harmonious society by the government adopted in France. This review would be an useful guideline on the legislative process and the legal translation in the law of the Republic of Korea.

Clause 3, article 36 in the Constitution says that all people are supposed to get national protection about their health. It means not only that the nation must not infringe on the people's health passively but also that the nation has the duty to establish and implement the policy for the people's health. As Korean citizens, servicepeople are in a special position because they have a special relationship with the nation. So, during the service, they are subject to restriction on their rights in many ways under the Constitution and some specific laws. The Constitution says that the nation must not infringe on their right's fundamental contents, even if, however, they are in a special position. So far, it is true that many people stress the importance of service people's soldierliness. As a result, servicepeople have tolerated their sickness without saying, or if they have the chance to say their sickness when it is very serious, officers would not listen to what they have said with a great attention because of attributes of the armed forces. But servicepeople are the citizens in Korea as well as soldiers. So, the nation has the duty for caring for servicepeople's health. There, of course, can be exceptional cases such as international war and civil war, but at normal times it will be very important for the government to allow servicepeople to get their proper health care service and for national assembly members to produce the law about that as soon a s possible.

Patients have the right to understand the purpose and risks of an invasive medical procedure, before they give consent for that invasive medical treatment. Doctors must offer full explanations of the treatment, risks, and the reasons for said treatment to all patients before any invasive medical procedure is performed. Doctors should also obtain a signed consent form from the patient before the invasive medical procedure in the event of any complications during the invasive medical procedure that leaves the patient in worst health after the invasive medical procedure. The consent form should describe allowed compensation in the event of any medical complication during the invasive medical procedure. If the doctor takes time to help the patient understand invasive treatments and the associated risks, patients can make informed decisions before signing any consent forms that may limit their ability to win monetary compensation in a medical malpractice suit in the event of a complication during the invasive procedure. The doctors can concentrate on healing the patient during invasive medical procedures when the doctor and patient have a mutual understanding of the invasive procedure and a signed, comprehensive consent form to cover the allowed compensation, should there be any complications during the invasive procedure. With communication and a comprehensive consent form, patients can make an informed decision to allow doctors to perform an invasive medical treatment and doctors can make an informed decision to treat a patient without the worries of any medical or legal repercussions after the said invasive treatment. A German court in 1894 determined that invasive medical procedures without patient consent were a criminal act of inflicting bodily injury. Later Anglo-American and Japanese laws require doctors to provide an explanation of the invasive medical procedure in conjunction with the consent form. In a case of an invasive medical procedure resulting in complications, a patient can seek damages if the patient can prove a lack of sufficient explanation of the procedure and/or a signed consent form prior to the invasive medical procedure. Korean laws currently consider physical damages to infringing on a person’s body and mental damages to infringing on a person’s rights in cases of insufficient explanation by the doctor in cases of complications during an invasive medical procedure. Laws requiring doctors to provide prior explanations of invasive medical procedures and patient consent forms need revision to reduce generalities. Doctors need clear legal guidelines on invasive medical procedure explanation documentation in addition to outlines for standard consent forms to assure all patients and doctors in Korea have sufficient information, before an invasive medical procedure, to make an informed decision.

Personal genetic information contains that of blood relatives or family members of the person. If there is any release of personal genetic information, it also releases affiliated persons’ information too, which causes a huge extent of damage. While personal genetic information can be used for medical purposes, it is also vulnerable to the abuse for social discrimination. For example, an insurance company may refuse or require higher insurance charge to the insurance application of someone who has specific disease DNA, and a company may not employ or may fire them. As such, the release of personal genetic information has a large extent of damage, and is highly plausible to be used illegally, which requires special protection in the perspective of policy. However, the current legal system is not sufficient to protect genetic information, and thus, new legislation is required. In particular, it is highly required to mitigate or converse the burden of proof to make a claim for damages easy for the post-aid to those who are infringed. This study proposes to mitigate or converse the burden of proof by means of the legislation of presuming provisions under the law. Those who are infringed thanks to the release of personal genetic information shall make the genetic information preservation organization take legal responsibility, and the preservation organization shall pay special attention to the security or use of genetic information which, in turn, may reduce the infringement of personal genetic information.

최근 삶의 질 제고와 서구식 식습관의 확대 경향 속에서 커피소비가 증가하고 있다. 지난 2008년 임두성 의원이 국내 유통 원두커피에 암을 유발하는 독소가 포함되어있다고 지적하면서 안전한 커피에 대한 요구가 높아졌다. 이에 국내에서도 오크라톡신 A에 대한 규제기준이 마련되었으나, 이러한 규제기준이 국민건강보호에 적절한 기준인지에 대한 검토는 여전히 미흡한 실정이다. 이에 본고는 첫째, 커피로부터 곰팡이 독소인 오크라톡신 A가 형성되는 요인을 분석하고, 오크라톡신 A가 인체에 미치는 영향을 살펴볼 것이다. 둘째, 커피에서 발생되는 오크라톡신 A를 규제하기 위한 국제적 규제동향은 어떠한지 국제적 표준규범인 Codex, 코덱스가 자문기관으로 두고 있는 JEFCA의 기준, 유럽공동체의 규제기준, 아직 구체적 규제기준이 부재한 일본과 미국의 태도를 검토해보겠다. 셋째, 이러한 국제적 규제동향분석을 통해 국내적 규제기준이 갖는 문제점을 지적할 것이다. 마지막으로 생산단계에서부터 발생하는 오크라톡신 A를 방지하기 위해 생산자와 유통업자들을 중심으로 한 국제적 협력에 관하여 살펴보면서 본고를 마무리 하겠다.