A woman in South Korea felt embarrassed and humiliated when unfamiliar trainee doctors entered the delivery room without her consent while she was giving birth. A survey found that most pregnant women believe hospitals should obtain approval before allowing interns in the delivery room. However, doctors oppose restrictions on intern observation, saying it is an important part of obstetrician training. Some civic groups argue that requiring patient permission is necessary to protect basic human rights.

13. Should trainee doctors be present in delivery room?
Lee Jung-eun had an unpleasant experience when she gave birth to a baby at
Asan Medical Center in Seoul in 2009.
She was so happy to have her first baby but the happiest moment in the
delivery room was marred by “uninvited guests.”

14. As she was uncomfortable with male obstetricians, she had a female doctor
check and treat her for the entire period of the pregnancy.
But when she was moved to the delivery room on the due day, two male and
female doctors, who she had never seen before,
started to check her conditions and later watched her go through labor.
She learned that they were interns and it was part of their training.

15. “I felt embarrassed and in a way humiliated,” the 33-year-old mother said.
“I felt my privacy was violated. The hospital had not told me anything about the
interns nor obtained my approval for them to enter the delivery room.”
She and her husband could not make any complaint
because they were too concerned about the labor and at that time they only
thought it was strange for unfamiliar doctors to be with them, she said.

16. But Lee said her experience is “mild” or “normal” compared to other cases
involving some other pregnant women.
“I have heard that a group of five or six trainee doctors sometimes enter a
delivery room all together to watch the procedure of labor at big hospitals.
You must feel like an animal in a zoo or something,” she said.
“So people advise pregnant women not to go to a big hospital between May
and July, when interns are mostly invited to delivery rooms.”

17. A survey also shows most pregnant women said hospitals should at least seek
and obtain approval in advance for the presence of interns in delivery rooms.
According to a survey of 521 pregnant women last year, 473 of the
respondents said hospitals should receive an approval in advance,
and 31 said no interns should be allowed to enter a delivery room.

18. The survey was conducted last year by Rep.
Yang Seung-jo of the main opposition Democratic United Party,
who planned to submit a bill to restrict interns from entering operation and
delivery rooms without the approval of patients, even for the purpose of
medical training.

19. But the bill failed to be submitted to the National Assembly due to strong
oppositions from doctors
who claim that the bill attempts to deprive would-be obstetricians of important
training.

20. “Observing the procedure of labor is a core part of training for would-be
obstetricians,” said Shin Jung-ho,
secretary general of the Korean Society of Obstetrics and Gynecology and an
obstetrician at the Korea University Medical Center.
“Allowing interns to be at a delivery room will help them become better
obstetricians for pregnant women in 10 to 20 years.”

21. But civic groups argue that it is necessary to ask pregnant women permission to
allow the presence of interns at delivery rooms to protect basic human rights.
They also demand a law should be legislated to root out the wrong tradition.

22. “It is obviously a violation of basic human rights,” said Kim Hyung-wan, director
of the Korea Human Rights Policy Institute.
“Nothing can come before the importance of privacy, which is protected by the
Constitution.”
In other countries such as the U.S. and Canada, they strictly prohibit the
presence of interns in delivery rooms without the approval of patients, he said.