Doctor Who Received 'Rebates' Loses Lawsuit Challenging License Suspension

Doctor A Files Lawsuit Over Four-Month Medical License Suspension

A doctor who received rebates worth several million won from pharmaceutical sales representatives filed a lawsuit challenging the suspension of his medical license, but lost the case.

According to the legal community on March 23, the 12th Administrative Division of the Seoul Administrative Court (Presiding Judge Kang Jaewon) ruled against the plaintiff in January in a lawsuit filed by Doctor A against the Minister of Health and Welfare, seeking to overturn the suspension of his medical license.

Doctor A, who operates a hospital in Seocho-gu, Seoul, was indicted for violating the Medical Service Act for receiving a total of 9.8 million won in cash from various pharmaceutical company sales representatives on 10 occasions between September 2016 and May of the following year, in exchange for adopting certain pharmaceuticals. He was convicted and fined 7 million won, with an additional forfeiture of 9.21 million won.

Based on this, the Ministry of Health and Welfare imposed a four-month suspension of Doctor A's medical license in March last year.

Doctor A denied the allegations, claiming, "I never received any economic benefits from the sales representatives." He also argued that, even if he had received money, "the statute of limitations for disciplinary action has expired, so only a warning, not a suspension, would be possible."

However, the court did not accept these arguments.

The court first stated, "Facts established in criminal trials serve as strong evidence in administrative litigation," and recognized that Doctor A had indeed received rebates.

Regarding Doctor A's claim that the statute of limitations for disciplinary action had expired, the court held, "If the misconduct was continuous, the starting point of the statute of limitations should be the final act in the series," and added, "The period from the filing of the indictment to the final conviction (1,034 days) is excluded from the calculation of the statute of limitations. Therefore, the Ministry's disciplinary action was lawfully imposed before the statute of limitations expired."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.