A four-month license suspension has been finalized for a doctor who received rebates from a pharmaceutical company. The doctor also must pay a fine and forfeiture exceeding the rebate amount.
The 12th Administrative Division of the Seoul Administrative Court (Presiding Judge Kang Jae-won) said on the 23rd that it rejected, on Jan. 22, a lawsuit filed by a doctor identified as A, who runs a hospital in Seocho District, Seoul, seeking to cancel a license suspension imposed by the Minister of Health and Welfare.
From September 2016 to July 2017, A received a total of 9.8 million won in cash over 10 occasions from two sales representatives of a pharmaceutical company. The sales representatives handed over the cash to induce the adoption and prescription of the company's drugs and to maintain the transaction.
Prosecuted over the matter, A received a final conviction at the Supreme Court in Nov. 2024, with a fine of 7 million won and forfeiture of 9.21 million won.
The Ministry of Health and Welfare in March last year imposed a four-month suspension of A's medical license for violating the Medical Service Act. A then took the case to the administrative court, saying, "I never received cash from the sales representatives," and, "Even if I did receive cash, the statute of limitations has expired, so a disciplinary action cannot be taken."
Under the Medical Service Act, a suspension cannot be imposed if five years have passed since the act occurred, but if indicted, the period from the filing of the indictment to the finalization of the trial is excluded from the limitations period. A argued that of the 10 cash payments received, only three, totaling 2.41 million won, remained within the statute of limitations, so the Ministry of Health and Welfare could issue only a warning.
According to the administrative disposition standards under a Ministry of Health and Welfare ordinance, if a doctor receives an "unjust economic benefit" of less than 3 million won, a warning is imposed, and if it is 5 million won or more but less than 10 million won, a four-month license suspension is imposed.
Citing the final Supreme Court ruling, the administrative court rejected A's claim that A "did not receive an economic benefit from the sales representatives."
The court also said, "If the misconduct continued, even if some acts are time-barred, the latest act should serve as the reference point." It then found it reasonable that the Ministry of Health and Welfare imposed a four-month suspension based on A's receipt of a total of 9.8 million won.