Supreme Court approves terminal patient`s right to die

(ATTN: UPDATES with more details and background)
SEOUL, May 21 (Yonhap) -- The Supreme Court on Thursday recognized a comatose
South Korean woman's right to "die with dignity" in an unprecedented ruling here,
allowing family members to remove her feeding tube and take her off life support.
The 76-year-old woman, identified only by her family name Kim, suffered cerebral
damage and fell into a vegetative state while undergoing lung surgery in February
last year. Her family has sought court approval to turn off her respiratory
device after she was declared brain dead last year, claiming she has no chance of
recovering.
Severance Hospital in western Seoul initially rejected the request, prompting the
family to file a lawsuit seeking to force the hospital to comply with their
wishes. Earlier this year, Seoul's district and high courts ruled in favor of the
family and ordered the hospital to respect Kim's right to die with dignity.
Upholding the landmark lower courts' ruling, South Korea's top court said
sustained medical treatment of terminally ill patients like Kim potentially
violates their dignity as human beings.
"Whether to continue artificial life support and feeding for comatose patients is
a matter that should be considered carefully," said the Supreme Court.
"If it is obvious that the patient in question will soon die judging from her
conditions, we can conclude that she has already entered a phase of death. In
this case, continued hospital treatment only serves to hurt her human dignity."
ycm@yna.co.kr
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