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KMID : 1025620220250040331
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Korean Journal of Medical Ethics
2022 Volume.25 No. 4 p.331 ~ p.339
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Exodus from Undignified Dying in Hospital
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Park Joong-Chul
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Abstract
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South Korea has low scores on both the Happy Planet Index (HPI) and Quality of Death Index (QDI) in comparison to other countries with similar levels of economic development. As the number of hospital deaths increases, so too does the number of people experiencing miserable deaths due to the availability and perhaps misuse of life-sustaining treatment. However, given the current individualized social structure, an increasing number of people will spend the end of their lives in elderly care facilities and hospitals, experiencing miserable deaths. Although many people fear misery at the end of life, a realistic solution to this problem has not yet been found in South Korea. For this reason, a recent proposal to legalize physician-assisted suicide in South Korea has received strong public support. This article argues that past opportunities for meaningful public discussions concerning dignified dying have been squandered and that what is needed at this point is not further legislation that enables us to avoid thinking about these issues but rather mature dis-cussions concerning how we want to die.
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KEYWORD
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physician-assisted suicide, attitude to death, end-of-life, death with dignity
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