hankyoreh

May 21.

The Supreme Court Thursday announced the legality of a patient’s right to die with dignity with the ruling to remove life support for a patient who has no possibility of revival.

The Supreme Court upheld a lower court‘s ruling to remove a respirator in the case of a brain dead patient who has been hospitalized at a Yonsei University medical center.

The court said, “We consider this patient as having entered the irrevocable death stage where revival is impossible, important life functions have been lost and death is imminent without the help of a respirator.” The court added, “In this case, extending life support could infringe upon the dignity of the patient’s life, and based on the presumption of the patient‘s wishes, doctors are permitted to stop life support.”

The court suggested guidelines for dying with dignity by saying, “In addition to confirming that a patient has entered the irrevocable death stage, doctors should make efforts to confirm that the patient wanted die with dignity even without having an obvious expression of that from the patient.” The court added, “The doctor can deduct the patient’s wishes to die with dignity from conducting a comprehensive analysis of matters that can include drawing upon the patient‘s relations with family members and friends.”

Some experts say the court’s decision in this patient‘s case may lead to a controversy in South Korea regarding the right to die. In response to this ruling, Jeon Jae-hee, the Minister of Health, said, “I do not think that it is time to legalize dying of dignity, because passing the law to legalize it requires public opinion gathering, including holding public hearings.”

The medical world generally agrees with the ruling, but asks for greater systemic adjustment. An official of the Korean Medical Association says, “We are in agreement with the ruling, however, we think it should be upheld by laws that permit dying with dignity.”

On a different register, Kim Jeong-bum, the president of the Association of Physicians for Humanism, expressed concern for patients who may be abandoned due to medicalization costs. Kim says, “If we permit dying with dignity, we should also strengthen our health care system in order to prevent such cases.”

Religious leaders also revealed their concern of the possibility that dying with dignity would turn into a possible infringement of human dignity.

Please direct questions or comments to [englishhani@hani.co.kr]