Emergency room doctors doxxed for refusing to join strike

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Emergency room doctors doxxed for refusing to join strike

Published: 09 Sep. 2024, 18:57 Updated: 09 Sep. 2024, 19:40

LEE SOO-JUNG
lee.soojung1@joongang.co.kr

Paramedics transport patients to a regional emergency medical center at Ewha Womans University Mokdong Hospital in western Seoul on Monday. [YONHAP]

A "blacklist" of emergency room physicians who chose to treat patients rather than participate in the ongoing doctors' strike was found circulating online on Monday.

Sarcastically titled "Forced laborers at emergency rooms," the list — allegedly created by the physicians' colleagues — was posted on an archive-like website assumed to be operated by striking doctors.

The list includes the doctors’ full names, contact information, marital status and even the names of their relatives, according to health authorities.

On Monday evening, a police official likened the list to stalking and said police were considering the application of relevant laws. The official also compared circulating the list to "group bullying."

The anonymous website operator uploads the personal information of active doctors weekly. A separate list of active emergency room doctors and military physicians dispatched to emergency rooms was recently added.

Some users harassed the doctors by leaving sarcastic comments like, "We thank you for quitting the strike and for your decision to stand by patients," and, “These doctors helped the national health authorities claim emergency health services were intact when hospitals were actually shorthanded.”

Since junior doctors walked out en masse last February, lists containing private information of on-duty doctors have appeared on internet forums and Telegram chat rooms.

Earlier in the day, the Ministry of Health and Welfare said it would request a formal investigation, calling the disclosure of personal information an "intolerable crime that dispirits doctors who protect the lives of patients."

"Some military physicians are suffering from sociophobia after their personal information was disclosed," Jung Yoon-soon, a ministry official, said during a press briefing Monday.

Sociophobia is the fear of socially interacting with others.

People Power Party floor leader Choo Kyung-ho, left, and Democratic Party floor leader Park Chan-dae speak to reporters about their meeting on Monday at the National Assembly in western Seoul. They discussed ways to bring the medical community into a consultative body to resolve the standoff between doctors and the government. [NEWS1]

With the medical void from the strike running into its sixth month, the National Assembly is laying the groundwork for bipartisan support to entice the medical community to the negotiation table.

On Monday, People Power Party (PPP) floor leader Choo Kyung-ho said both conservative and liberal parties have realized that the medical community’s presence in a consultative body to resolve the admissions hike issue is “necessary” during a meeting with National Assembly Speaker Woo Won-shik and Democratic Party (DP) floor leader Park Chan-dae.

This bipartisan agreement came three days after PPP chief Han Dong-hoon on Friday proposed a consultative body consisting of both parties, the government and the medical community.

In the meeting, Park also promised more “dedicated support” and called on the government to prepare more “genuine and persuasive” measures to encourage the medical community to come to the negotiation table.

Earlier in the day, both parties had internal meetings, during which their leaders affirmed their will and effort to talk with doctors through the consultative body.

“The consultative body should focus on bringing doctors back to hospitals,” DP leader Lee Jae-myung said during his party's supreme council meeting. “Let’s begin an extensive and open-minded dialogue.”

PPP chief Han also asked the medical community to participate in the consultative body “for the greater good” at his own party's supreme council meeting.

Han said the consultative body would provide the medical community with “profound opportunities” where they could explain their views, given that the body is not solely government-oriented.

Han stressed that participating groups should not attach preconditions nor limit the scope of the negotiable agenda as such behavior could dissuade them from joining the dialogue.

His remarks appear to target an impasse between the medical community and the presidential office over immediate medical school admission hikes.

While the medical community has urged the government to scrap its plan to hike admissions quotas in medical schools for the 2025 academic year before initiating the dialogue, the government has ruled out the demand, calling it infeasible.

On Sunday, Choi An-na, a spokesperson from the Korean Medical Association, said that it would be “meaningless” to participate in the consultative body unless the government cancels its plan to expand medical recruitment for both the 2025 and 2026 academic years.

In response, an official from the presidential office told Yonhap News Agency on Sunday that revising the admissions plan for the 2025 academic year was off the table, with universities nationwide receiving applications on Monday.

The official said the government could adjust the number of admission slots for the 2026 academic year “with no strings attached.”