A Review on the Change of Health Policy Based on Ethical Issues

Lee, Dong Hyun; Kim, So Yoon; Sohn, Myongsei

Abstract

Health policy is a historical product in the process of development, including the political and economic factors of the state as well as the social and cultural elements of the country. Bioethics began to debate the ethical questions that arise in the overall process of life's birth and death, and gradually evolved by presenting ethical directions for various social phenomena. Especially, according to the moral awakening of "˜scientific medicine' which caused in some human problems in the rapidized scientific society from the late 19th century to the early 20th century, as a result of distress including the concept of various social relations, it is possible to say that it has reached the bioethics. Although health policy and bioethics are different in terms of starting and concept, they can be found in common with social, cultural, and political diversity in the times. In 2004, "˜Bioethics Law' was enacted through the issue of research ethics in the life sciences. Therefore, in order to examine ethical aspects of current health policy direction and major issues, it can be divided into before and after enactment of "˜Bioethics Law' in 2004. The authors would like to examine how the evolution of the ethical viewpoint on the health policy has changed in line with the enactment of the "˜Bioethics Law' and how it is trying to solve it from an ethical point of view. Through the various events that took place in the 1990s and the 2000s, various discussions on bioethics were conducted in Korea. Prior to the enactment of the "˜Bioethics Law,' ethical judgments of professions, distribution of healthcare resources, if the discussion focused on the ethical judgment of abortion, and the various events that appeared in the early 2000s became the beginning to inform that the ethical debate about the life, death, and dignity of human beings began in earnest in Korea with the enactment of the "˜Bioethics Law.' Since then, "˜Hospice and Palliative care Law' which was enacted in 2017, is based on the fact that the health policy of our country focuses on the treatment of the past diseases, health promotion, and delivery of health care services. It was an opportunity to let them know that even the quality problems were included. Therefore, considering the various circumstances, the ethical issue facing Korea's health care system in the future is the change of the demographic structure due to aging and what is to be considered as the beginning and the process of life in the overall process of life. It is the worry about how to die and when it sees as death. This has far exceeded the paradigm of traditional health care policies such as disease prevention and management and health promotion, and calls for innovative policy response at the national level that reflects the new paradigm, which in many cases creates a predictable ethical environment. And health policy should be shifted in the direction of future ethical review considering sustainability in the development process of future health care rather than coercive management.