|
KMID : 1025620090120010043
|
|
Korean Journal of Medical Ethics
2009 Volume.12 No. 1 p.43 ~ p.60
|
|
|
Reflections on the Ethics of Withdrawing Life-prolonging Medical Treatment: The Decision of the Seoul Western District Court
|
|
Lee Dong-Ik
|
|
|
Abstract
|
|
|
|
This article examines the ethical issues involved in a recent decision of the Seoul Western District Court stating that a hospital in Seoul has an obligation to comply with a request made by the family of a 76-year-old female patient to remove the patient from the respirator on which she is dependent. This article defends the following claims concerning this court decision: 1) that removing the respirator from this patient is not a form of euthanasia; 2) that the removal of the respirator does not infringe the patient’s right to treatment; 3) that the free will of the patient may have been respected, even though there was no written consent; and 4) that the court’s decision does not acknowledge the right to death of the patient. The article also examines the concept of death with dignity, since the removal of a respirator that meaninglessly prolongs a patient’s life has implications for a dignified death. When treatment merely delays the time of death, it is more of a source of pain for the patient than it is a form of medical treatment. Hence it is inhumane. However, even in these cases “ordinary treatment” should not be neglected.
|
|
|
KEYWORD
|
|
|
Life-prolonging treatment, Presumed consent, Vegetative state, Artificial respirator, Advance medical
|
|
|
FullTexts / Linksout information
|
|
|
|
|
|
Listed journal information
|
|
 
|