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Analysis of Precedents Related to the Lumbar Disc Herniation
Original Article

Korean J Nutr 2012;8(2):94-98.

Published online: 19 January 2012

DOI: https://doi.org/10.13004/kjnt.2012.08.0.94

Analysis of Precedents Related to the Lumbar Disc Herniation

Kyeong-Seok Lee, MD, Jae-Jun Shim, MD, Seok-Mann Yoon, MD, Jae-Won Doh, MD, Il-Gyu Yun, MD, Hack-Gun Bae, MD

Department of Neurosurgery, Soonchunhyang University College of Medicine, Cheonan Hospital, Cheonan, Korea

Address for correspondence: Kyeong-Seok Lee, MD Department of Neurosurgery, Soonchunhyang University College of Medicine, Cheonan Hospital, 31 Suncheonhyang 6-gil, Dong-nam-gu, Cheonan 330-721, Korea Tel: +82-41-570-3652, Fax: +82-41-572-9297 E-mail: ksleens@sch.ac.kr

Received 12 June 2012       Revised 2 July 2012       Accepted 2 July 2012

Copyright © 2012 The Korean Nutrition Society

This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0) which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Abstract

Objective:

Herniated lumbar disc (HLD) is a relatively common disorder, while its causality is a matter of debate. Although there are a few rules in the Korean laws, they are usually nonspecific and comprehensive. By these rules, it is hard to solve the legal conflicts determining the work apportionment. The final judgments may be irrelevant by the inappropriate opinions of the doctors who are not concerned on the work apportionment.

Methods:

We searched precedents related to the medical accidents of HLD in the Korean Supreme Court web site. There were 38 precedents related to the HLD from 1990 to 2011. We reviewed types of the court, types of the suits, legal judgments, the point of conflicts, and so on. We tried to find the problems and adequate solution.

Results:

The Supreme Court made 20 in 38 precedents related to the HLD. The most common precedents were on the industrial insurance. Compensation suits for damages were the next. These two issues constituted about 70% of the precedents related to the HLD. There were other suits on the insurance money, accidental infliction of injury, and a man of national merit. The judgment on the work apportionment was independent to the year of suits, types of the court, and the types of the suits.

Conclusion:

By the precedents on the HLD, we could identify the importance of the doctors’ opinion in various legal conflicts. Doctors should have concerns on the work apportionment of a certain trauma or a work objectively in HLDs.

Keywords: Intervertebral disk displacement, Lumbar vertebrae, Occupational injuries, Causality, Jurisprudence

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TABLE 1.
Precedents related to the lumbar disc herniation in Korea (1990-2011)
Year District court High court Supreme court Total
1990-1999 1 2 14 17
2000-2011 9 6 6 21
Total 10 8 20 38
TABLE 2.
Types of suits in Korean precedents related to the lumbar disc herniation
Types of suits District court High court Supreme T court Total
Industrial compensation 3 3 9 15
Reparation 3 1 9 12
Others∗ 4 4 3 11
Total 10 8 20 38

∗included insurance company (6 cases), accidental infliction (2 cases), and national merit (1 case), etc

TABLE 3.
Judgements of the suits related to the lumbar disc her niation in Korea (1978-2010)
Variables Work-related Not related Total
1990-1999 9 2 11
2000-2010 9 5 14
District court 4 4 8
High court 3 1 4
Supreme court 11 2 13
Industrial compensation 10 4 14
Reparation 5 1 6
Others 3 2 5
Total 18 7 25
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