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KMID : 1234820080090020053
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Korean Society of Law and Medicine
2008 Volume.9 No. 2 p.53 ~ p.75
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The Legal Framework of the Death with Dignity in U.S.A.
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Kim Jang-Han
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Abstract
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The end of life problem in the United States has been evolved from the development of concept of brain death over last 50 yr. The invention of ventilator and the development of emergency medicine also played a key role to elongate the end stage of life and which caused the American people to ask a question about the patients self determination and refusing the unwarranted medical treatment in the view of the death with dignity. With regard to the patient unable to self determination, surrogate decision was also considered. To guarantee the self determination, The patient self determination act also enacted on the level of Federal regulation in 1990s. But no law has effectively dealt with the situation when medical treatment became futile. Along with the significant debates on literature and court cases. The American Medical Association’s Council on Medical and Judical Affairs presented formal opinion and the Texas was the first states to regulate the medical futile situation in 1999. Even though that definition was in controversy, the concept of medical futility mainly focused on the doctors’ right to refuse the treatment.
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KEYWORD
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advance directives, euthanasia, the death with dignity, the right to refuse, medical futility
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