The Seoul High Court on Tuesday upheld a lower court ruling recognizing the right to die with dignity. The ruling allows doctors to end life-support for a 76-year-old woman who has been brain-dead for almost a year. While the family welcomed the ruling, the hospital, run by a Christian foundation, said it would decide next week whether to bring the case to the Supreme Court.
A lower court ruled in December in favor of the woman`s children`s request for the removal of life support, saying that she has no chance of recovery and that her wish not to have life-sustaining treatments could be inferred from her previous statements. Severance Hospital appealed the decision, seeking more specific guidelines for terminating life-support.
The medical profession has been averse to ending life-sustaining treatments following a 2004 case in which doctors were charged with assisting murder after they removed life support from a brain-dead patient at the request of relatives.
The court stressed that the suspension of life-sustaining treatment must be allowed only under strict conditions. The presiding judge also proposed a guideline for removing life support: The patient has entered a stage of death where there is no possibility of recovery; the patient must have expressed a sincere and rational decision to terminate treatment; only life-support treatments may be terminated and treatments to alleviate pain and other treatments cannot be terminated; and only doctors can terminate treatments.
The court emphasized the need for a law on a person`s right to die with dignity. It said that the society`s opinion should be broadly sought and reflected in legislating standards and procedures for terminating life-sustaining treatment and punishment for abuses.
The court ruling and the guideline for allowing the removal of life-sustaining treatment was expected to spark fresh debate on the topic. The medical profession largely welcomed the ruling and noted that the court went beyond the lower court ruling by providing a guideline that could be applied universally.
The religious community is divided on the matter. The Catholic Church maintains that medically meaningless life-sustaining treatments are against its doctrine while many Protestant sects maintain the opposing position.
Whether the public is ready to accept the right to die with dignity remains to be seen through more discussions on the matter.
Medically meaningless life-sustaining treatments may lead to prolonged suffering for the patient. For the caretakers, the emotional and financial drain is considerable. Medical resources may be more efficiently utilized if patients who have no chance of recovery once life support are removed are allowed to die a natural death.
As medical technology advances, so do the means of keeping patients alive for years on life support. The time has come for the society to seriously consider a person`s right to die with dignity.
[출처 : 코리아헤럴드]
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