A Seoul court yesterday ordered a life-support machine to be removed from a patient in a permanent vegetative state, the first such ruling in Korea.
A family filed a request in May to the court, saying the treatment of their 75-year-old mother was "a meaningless act of life extension." They demanded that Seoul`s Severance Hospital halt medical support, citing their mother`s conscious wish not to be kept artificially alive.
"Since there appears to be no chance of her restoring consciousness and surviving without the respirator, further treatment is deemed medically meaningless as it cannot influence her recovery," said Seoul Western District Court presiding judge Kim Cheon-soo in the ruling.
"Given her hopeless state and old age, it can be presumed that she would have preferred to face natural death with the respirator withdrawn rather than maintaining the current state."
The court underscored that the ruling was not an endorsement of euthanasia, but was strictly confined to cases where treatment for a patient with no chance of recovery provided no benefit, and the patient`s desire to end the treatment can be inferred.
The hospital did not immediately turn off the life support, saying it would consider whether to appeal the ruling.
On Feb. 16, a clinic suspected the mother of having pneumonia, which led her to take a check-up at the hospital. During an endoscopy on her bronchi, her blood vessels ruptured and bled heavily. Her heart stopped functioning and failed to provide enough oxygen to her brain for about 10 minutes, which put her in a coma.
Korea`s penal code criminalizes any form of artificially ending another`s life as committing or abetting murder.
Even with prior consent from patients or family members, withholding life-saving items such as water, food, medicine and a respirator can constitute a crime if a third person takes issue with it.
Previously, a local court convicted a wife and two doctors for letting a patient in critical condition leave the hospital without due medical treatment. In 1997, despite doctors` strong warnings, the wife demanded that the hospital release her 58-year-old husband suffering from hematoma, or blood clot, in his head, citing her poor economic situation.
The court gave the wife a suspended three-year jail sentence for murdering her husband through nonfeasance. Both of the two doctors were given a suspended 30-month jail term for aiding and abetting his murder.
The ruling is expected to intensify a prolonged debate over mercy killing.
Medical professors showed a generally positive response to the court ruling.
"Although some say we should not rule out the possibility of a miracle, citing rare cases, from a biological standpoint, I believe many in the medical circles would endorse the ruling," Kim Jong-yeon, a medical professor at Yeungnam University told The Korea Herald.
"I personally think of the ruling as only natural, since it is regarding the meaningless extension of life for an unconscious patient with no hope of recovery."
Religious circles held a cautious stance on the issue.
Park Yong-wong, a senior member of the Council of Christian Denominations in Korea, objected to ending a life artificially.
"No human being has the right to end his or her own life," Park said.
"If such a mercy killing were officially sanctioned, many side effects would plague society such as eroding the will of doctors to respect the life of patients and trading human organs."
However, Park Jung-woo, director of the Community for Life at the Catholic Seoul Archdiocese, said extending the life of a patient with no chance of recovery can be an "excessive medical obsession."
"We basically oppose euthanasia. But, with a doctor`s conscientious decision and consent from the patient, helping the patient accept death as part of his or her life can be acceptable when his living means more pain with no chance of survival," said Park.
In the United States, depending on the case and in consultation with doctors, it is allowed to turn off life-support to a patient who is kept alive through artificial means.
In 2000, the Netherlands became the first nation to legalize mercy killing by lethal injection. Passive forms of euthanasia are permitted in some nations, including France, Taiwan and Japan.
By Song Sang-ho
(sshluck@heraldm.com)
[출처 : 코리아헤럴드]
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