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Legalize the right to die with dignity

(China Daily)
Updated: 2008-12-03 07:42

A Seoul court several days ago ordered the removal of a respirator from a patient in a permanent vegetative state, recognizing a person's right to die with dignity.

The family of the 75-year-old woman who fell into a coma in February during a bronchoscopy procedure had filed a request in May to the court demanding that the hospital take her off life-support. In its ruling, the court said that the woman is unlikely to regain consciousness and be able to live without the aid of life-support and that the use of a respirator is a medically meaningless treatment in her case.

The court said that it can be presumed - based on the woman's actions and statements in the past - that had she been informed of her current condition and treatment, she would have preferred to remove the artificial respirator and die a natural death.

In 1997, the South Korean Supreme Court found two doctors guilty of aiding and abetting murder for allowing a patient to be discharged upon request by the wife. The man who had undergone brain surgery died at home when he was taken off the respirator.

In South Korea, hospitals customarily respect "do not resuscitate" orders that are signed before patients become unconscious. However, in instances where an individual unexpectedly falls unconscious without an explicit order against medically meaningless treatments, doctors continue to provide treatment.

The court emphasized that the ruling does not cover euthanasia or all forms of medical treatment. The ruling is confined to cases where medical treatment is meaningless because there is no chance of recovery and where a patient's desire to end such treatment can be inferred, the court said.

Medically meaningless life-prolonging treatments can rob a patient of a dignified death. They also exact a tremendous cost from families that must foot large medical bills.

In a recent survey, some 88 percent of South Koreans said they agree with the right to die with dignity. It is time that a law recognizing a person's right to die with dignity is legislated. Such a document will pave the way for more people to die with dignity, rather than hooked up to tubes and respirators that prolong their suffering.

The presiding judge who ordered the respirator removal said that his decision will spark a discussion on the right to die with dignity. He would like to see specific legislation regarding the right to die with dignity.

It is time, especially as South Korea is quickly becoming an aging society, to have a public discussion on the matter.

The Korea Herald/Asia News Network

(China Daily 12/03/2008 page9)