‘Issuing a medical certificate on a day when no treatment was done’ 30-year-old Oriental medicine doctor not sent to the hospital… Explanation for compliance with existing records

An oriental medicine doctor who was suspected of issuing a false medical certificate to a patient for a traffic accident without providing medical treatment was cleared of the charges by proving that the existing medical records and treatment progress matched the contents of the medical certificate.

According to the legal community on the 9th, the Ulsan Southern Police Station decided not to forward Mr. A, the director of an oriental medicine clinic, who was accused of violating the medical law and writing a false medical certificate in January.

Mr. A was accused of issuing false medical certificates required for the car insurance payment guarantee process to four patients who visited the hospital after suffering a traffic accident from 2024 to last year. The insurance company filed a complaint, taking issue with the fact that actual treatment was not performed on the issuance date listed on some medical certificates.

Mr. A denied the charges. It was claimed that the medical certificate in question was not written on the premise of a single treatment on the day of issuance, but was written based on previous treatment and treatment progress. At the same time, they claimed that the patients continued to visit the hospital for treatment after the traffic accident, and that the contents of the medical certificate were also based on medical records.

Mr. A emphasized, "The issuance date written on the medical certificate indicates the time when documents to be submitted to the insurance company according to the patient's request during the automobile insurance payment guarantee process were printed and sent. Just because there was no separate medical treatment on the day of issuance, it cannot be considered a medical certificate without examination."

The police accepted Mr. A’s claim. The fact that the date of issuance of the medical certificate and the date of actual treatment do not match cannot be considered as a false medical certificate, and considering the patients' existing medical records and treatment progress, it cannot be concluded that the contents of the medical certificate are inconsistent with actual medical practice.

Attorney Chae Young-jae of Daeryun Law Firm, who represented Mr. A, said, "Under medical law, a medical certificate is not a document prepared solely on the premise of a medical examination at a single point in time. In this case, we focused on the fact that the content and progress of the actual medical practice should be viewed as the standard for judgment rather than the formal element of the date of issuance of the medical certificate."

He went on to explain, “It explained the structure in which medical certificates are issued and submitted in insurance practice, and pointed out the limitations of the approach of imposing criminal liability based only on formal information, which led to the decision not to forward the case.”

Reporter Jeong Cheol-wook

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An oriental medicine doctor in his 30s who ‘issued a medical certificate on a day when he did not receive treatment’ was not sent back… Explanation that matches existing records (Shortcut)