삶의 마감방식의 결정에 대한 한국의 과제 (Agenda for End-of -Life Decision-Making in Korea)

서지정보

· 발행기관 : 대한의사협회
· 수록지 정보 : 대한의사협회지 / 52권 / 8호 / 734 ~ 737페이지
· 저자명 : 손명세

초록

After a year of court trials initiated by the immediate family of a patient in a permanent
vegetative state, the National Supreme Court of Korea ruled that the family have the right to
decide for the removal of ventilator from the patient. This was a particularly significant court case
that established a precedent for the Korean society as a whole, since there currently is no
statutory framework regarding rights to self-determination to refuse any extraordinary means of
treatment in Korean legal system. While much of Korean healthcare providers and the
government itself have focused on designing and developing a comprehensive blueprint for
Advance Health Directives for patients, the recent outcome has created an important opportunity
for all parties of the Korean society. Therefore, the Korean government and legislature will need
to systematically study and establish a procedural preparation for legislation. The providers will
also have to carefully examine the moral and ethical dimensions of Advance Directives to
promote the patients’ interests in accordance with civil rights of the patients. Lastly and most
importantly, the individuals must reflect on our own moral values, regardless of their current
health. To exercise their own will and to relieve their relatives from difficult decisions, they must
also educate themselves about living will and healthcare proxy, and elucidate their value history
with family. No one can exactly lay out the course of life to death, but it is possible to steer the
final journey of life to a more humane death. A society must value the life itself, but the journey to
death should also be made humane by respecting one’s own choice.

영어초록

After a year of court trials initiated by the immediate family of a patient in a permanent
vegetative state, the National Supreme Court of Korea ruled that the family have the right to
decide for the removal of ventilator from the patient. This was a particularly significant court case
that established a precedent for the Korean society as a whole, since there currently is no
statutory framework regarding rights to self-determination to refuse any extraordinary means of
treatment in Korean legal system. While much of Korean healthcare providers and the
government itself have focused on designing and developing a comprehensive blueprint for
Advance Health Directives for patients, the recent outcome has created an important opportunity
for all parties of the Korean society. Therefore, the Korean government and legislature will need
to systematically study and establish a procedural preparation for legislation. The providers will
also have to carefully examine the moral and ethical dimensions of Advance Directives to
promote the patients’ interests in accordance with civil rights of the patients. Lastly and most
importantly, the individuals must reflect on our own moral values, regardless of their current
health. To exercise their own will and to relieve their relatives from difficult decisions, they must
also educate themselves about living will and healthcare proxy, and elucidate their value history
with family. No one can exactly lay out the course of life to death, but it is possible to steer the
final journey of life to a more humane death. A society must value the life itself, but the journey to
death should also be made humane by respecting one’s own choice.

참고자료

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