Charges sought against doctor who told nurses to ‘butt out’

The online post on Park Yong-eon’s Facebook page telling nurses off for celebrating the recent passage of the Nurses Act. (Facebook)

A civic group said Monday it has filed defamation and insult charges against Park Yong-eon, the vice president of the Korea Medical Association who recently told nurses to "butt out" of doctors' treatment roles after recent passage of the Nurses Act.

The People's Welfare Countermeasure Committee said Park's comment would hurt the trust between those in the medical circles by sending a message that the doctors do not respect nurses.

The KMA has been at the forefront of the ongoing standoff between the doctors and the government over the medical reform. The majority of trainee doctors and a substantial number of medical professors have walked out of their jobs in protest of a plan to increase the enrollment quotas of medical schools.

The new act legally defines the qualification, duty, rights, and other details related to the country's nurses. Doctors complain it will give them the right to take on roles that only doctors should be performing, though the act itself says nurses can only support medical treatment based on the decisions of doctors.

Park on Friday shared on his Facebook page the news that nurses are welcoming its enactment, commenting: "Butt out. If you were going to do that, you should've gone to med school. You're only pieces on a janggi (chess-like Asian board game) board who think you're the player. How dare you."

Upon the criticism he faced, he defended his comment in a follow-up posting Saturday.

"Why am I mad at the Nursing Act? After pushing the trainee doctors away, making a fuss for them to come back, I was mad (at the nurses) for cheering for an act like that, which gives the spots doctors should have to nurses. ... Nurses may not like my posts, but the trainee doctors would be even angrier," he said. "Cut the crap, it's not a pretty sight to see. What am I a pushover? To not get angry after seeing someone steal my stuff and brag it shamelessly?" he wrote.

The Korean Nursing Association said it will not release a statement concerning Park's comment, saying "It is not worth it."

With the ongoing medical strike, some doctors recently made and distributed a blacklist of physicians not taking part in the walkout.

With a trainee doctor surnamed Jeong under criminal investigation for the blacklist suspicions, KMA chief Lim Hyun-taek and other prominent doctors' groups defended Jeong’s actions, claiming he was merely resisting "government repression."