A Research On The Medical Act&Medical Lawsuits In The Republic Of China (1927-1937)

In the republican period, the medical tangle from Western medical treatment was judgedunder the modern law systems, which formed a specific trial solution system with republicanfeatures. This system was paused in mainland after October,1949, yet, still performed inTaiwan. After1979, the market economy was set up in mainland China, the law system wasrecovered, and medical treatment was marketized rapidly. Since the mid90’s, the medicallawsuits have been increasing over the whole country. Dating back to the initial period of theRepublic of China, the history was similar with that of today. The main purpose of thisdissertation is to summarize the course of the medical legislation and judicature in therepublican period, to discuss its foundation of rules and practices, and then we will providesome experience to resolve medical tangles at present.This dissertation is divided into5chapters. The main contents are as follows:Chapter1Introduction. The origin of Western medical lawsuits is illustrated from thehistorical and philosophical point of view. Western medicine is a ‘Going to scale’ andstream-lined treatment model: physicians treat patients as ‘physical body’ instead of ‘lifebody’; patients cannot feel humanity solicitude; the relationship between physicians andpatients is going marketed; health care ethics is falling down; the reliance between physiciansand patients is losing, and medical tangle is sharp. The model of medical tangle is technicaldevelopment-technology oppression (technology regulation)-intergroup rebellion (medicaltangle emergence). To settle medical tangles, people are required to establish belief inintegrity and law, to consolidate this belief as one kind of morality. The lawsuits in therepublican period were part of law transformation period in China, and the traditional Chineselegislation and judicature system was changed drastically in the late Qing dynasty. Thosemedical cases in the republican period concentrated on those regions with developed medicaltechnology where the judicature ran under the modern model.Chapter2Background for Medical Treatment Act in the Republic of China. We discussthe legislation in the traditional Chinese society including administrative medical legislation,royal medical legislation, civil medical legislation; we also discuss the medical tangles andsolution systems in the traditional Chinese society including settlement, mediation and lawsuit.The main point of this chapter is the historical background of the republican medical law. The emergence of modern cities, the introduction of western medicine and the establishment of therepublican modern law system are the preconditions of the republican medical laws. Theemergence of medical tangles was the result of physicians and patients’ subjectiveunderstanding, i.e. the cognitive difference for medical models and diseases, therapiesbetween physicians and patients.Chapter3A Study of republican medical legislation. In this chapter, we introduce theguiding ideology, legislature and legislative procedure of republican legislation. Byresearching the legislative procedure of Regulations for Physicians and Regulations forTraditional Chinese Medicine, we can clearly figure out the game among those interest groupsin the legislative procedure.Chapter4A study of the republican medical lawsuits.In this chapter, we investigate the basic characteristics of judicial judgment, thedifference between medical lawsuits with normal lawsuits, the routine procedure and featuresof judicial judgment in the period of the Republic of China, we also spend more time studyingmedical appraisal with its routinely procedure, selection of medical appraisal subject, medicalappraisal avoidance, basis of medical appraisal and the role of medical record in the medicalappraisal, we provide objective evaluation for the level of medical appraisal in the period ofRepublic of China.In this chapter, we also discuss the action of subject in the medical lawsuits containingthe action of judges and inquisitor officers, physicians and patients society groups in themedical lawsuits to understand the specific selection of medical lawsuit subject in the medicallawsuit course.Chapter5ConclusionAfter comparing the medical laws in the period of the Republic of China and modernmainland region, we try to find the historical figures of them that will be a good reference forlegislation and judicature in the present age.