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Review of the legal history of existing ambulance boarding personnel and reorganization of the normative structure

  • Legal Theory & Practice Review
  • Abbr : LTPR
  • 2026, 14(1), pp.723~740
  • Publisher : The Korea Society for Legal Theory and Practice Inc.
  • Research Area : Social Science > Law
  • Received : January 28, 2026
  • Accepted : February 23, 2026
  • Published : February 28, 2026

KIM JUN HO ORD ID 1,  Geon-Uk, Ryu 2,  Hong, Young-Py 3

1대전대학교
2대한응급구조사협회
3중앙소방학교

Accredited

ABSTRACT

Ambulances function not merely as means of patient transport but as mobile medical spaces where pre-hospital emergency medical care is actively delivered. The effectiveness of such care is fundamentally determined by the professionalism of onboard personnel and the structure of their assigned roles. In this context, emergency medical technicians (EMTs) have been institutionally designed as core professional personnel responsible for initial assessment and emergency treatment in the pre-hospital stage. However, the current Emergency Medical Service Act of Korea establishes a normative structure in which the principle and exceptions of the EMT boarding requirement are stipulated in parallel within the same provision, thereby weakening the legal enforceability of the EMT boarding obligation. This study conducts a legal-historical review of the formation and evolution of ambulance boarding personnel standards, from the Emergency Medical Management and Operation Rules enacted in 1991 to the current Emergency Medical Service Act. It analyzes how the EMT boarding obligation has come to acquire its legal character within a regulatory framework where principles and exceptions are structurally intertwined. In addition, by examining recent statistical data on ambulance deployment and onboard personnel, this study critically assesses the gap between the legal framework and operational realities, and evaluates the resulting erosion of the legal status of EMTs from a normative perspective. Based on this analysis, the study proposes legislative reform measures aimed at clearly re-establishing the requirement of at least one EMT onboard as the fundamental principle of ambulance operation, while limiting exceptions to unavoidable circumstances. Through this approach, the study seeks to present a normative direction for ensuring that the ambulance boarding requirement functions as a substantive and effective legal standard for pre-hospital emergency medical care.

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