S.Korea's top court backs right-to-die
SEOUL: Doctors treating a comatose woman must remove her from life support as her family requested, the Supreme Court said yesterday - the first time it has ruled in favor of a patient's right to die.
The top court's decision marks a break for South Korea, where societal mores and laws have been shaped by Confucian ideals that call for preserving and honoring the body. But there are signs of a shift in thinking on the issue, and earlier this week a major hospital in Seoul became the first to formulate a "right to die" policy.
The 76-year-old patient has been in a vegetative state since suffering brain damage in February 2008. Her family asked doctors at Yonsei University's Severance Hospital in Seoul to remove her from life support, saying she had always opposed keeping people alive with machines if there was no chance of revival.
