'Death With Dignity’ Bill Awaits Parliamentary Approval, Patients Can Refuse Life-Sustaining Treatment
The 'Death With Dignity' bill, which allows patients with no hope of recovery to refuse life-sustaining treatment, is reportedly still awaiting parliamentary approval, as per reports.
"The law is expected to allow patients to end their lives with dignity," said Rep. Kim Choon Jin, who led the lobbying of the bill. "Also, the law will reduce the nation's medical costs for unnecessary life-sustaining treatment."
The Korean Medical Association said that bill also applies to patients who have not expressed such a wish, but all other family members decide that the decision is good for the patient. In case the patient has no family, then the hospital committees will deliberate and help the patient decide, Alex Schadenberg noted in his Blog.
Korea Times reported that with the new bill, medical practitioners can stop life-sustaining treatments such as chemotherapy, mechanical ventilation, blood dialysis and CPR.
Health officials alleged that "Death with Dignity" bill is different from euthanasia. Under the bill, doctors are urged to ensure that the condition is incurable before terminating the life-sustaining treatment. Euthanasia, on the other hand, allows for medication that will immediately kill patients with life-threatening conditions.
The bill was proposed after a survey by the Korea Institute of Health and Social Affairs indicated that 88.9 percent of Koreans aged above 65 did not wish to receive life-sustaining treatment.
Meanwhile, it is uncertain whether the bill will be passed before the current parliamentary term ends before the general elections in April, Korea Herald reported. In the previous years, all pending bills are automatically discarded once the parliamentary term ends.
However, the bill had reportedly been passed on Tuesday by a parliamentary subcommittee before Thursday's session. The final approval still remains pending since some lawmakers, including Rep. Kim Jin Tae of the ruling Saenuri Party, suggest that the bill should also acknowledge traditional or herbal medicines such as acupuncture.
