Doctors tired over medical disputes flock to law school

Lin Fang-yuh, superintendent of the hospital, said that the infrastructure for health care and the quality of medical services in Taiwan has rapidly improved to a level of developed countries. The improvement, however, has brought more and more lawsuits to doctors, as patients were more concerned about their rights than before, added Lin.

Doctors, who are seeking master degrees in law, include such distinguished names as Lin Pyng-jing, chairman of Thoracic & Cardiovascular Surgery at Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, and Kwan Shang-yeong, associate professor in the department of neurology at Taipei Veterans General Hospital.

Lee Ming-been, chairman of the Taiwan Medical Association, pointed out that the surge in controversies resulting from medical affairs prompted the group's effort to protect the rights of medical practitioners. The organization currently hires 35 professionals who are specialists in both medicine and law as their think tank for such issues.

Effective communication between medical staff and patients is the best way to ease the rising number of disputes, said Lee, who is one of the doctors who received a degree in law. Lee became famous for defending for doctor Lin Jung-ti in a case in which Lin was accused of covering up a SARS outbreak in former Heping Hospital.

To safeguard the rights of patients as well as the medical professionals, doctors should be free of the fear of possible disputes, said Lee.

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