Posted on : Jan.17,2018 16:57 KST
43 patients opted to die with dignity during the law‘s three month trial phase
A total of 43 patients opted for death with dignity during a three-month-long pilot project on decisions regarding life-sustaining treatment.
Health care experts said that with patients and their family members shown to have a great interest in decisions regarding life-sustaining treatment, the South Korean government should be developing adequate response measures for potential problem areas that could arise in medical care facilities once the Life-Sustaining Treatment Decision-Making Act goes into effect.
On Jan. 16, the Ministry of Health and Welfare released figures from a three-month pilot project conducted between Oct. 23, 2017, and Jan. 15, 2018. The results showed a total of 9,370 preliminary letters of intent for life-sustaining treatment and 94 life-sustaining treatment plans submitted to national life-sustaining treatment management organizations. In a total of 43 cases, terminally ill patients with life-sustaining treatment plans died after legally halting or forgoing treatment. The government plans to announce specific analytical findings next week on the preliminary letters of intent and plans drafted during the pilot project, including who drafted them in what conditions and how long they had consulted with physicians.
Observers in the health care community said the pilot project showed numerous potential problems with the Life-Sustaining Treatment Decision-Making Act.
“You could end up facing repeated demands to halt or forgo life-sustaining treatment from patients or family members who did not draft life-sustaining treatment plans in advance,” said one health care community source.
“Under current law, health care practitioners could face up to three years in prison for halting or delaying life-sustaining treatment for patients who are not subject to the terms,” the source. “You could end up with serious problems on the ground because doctors are worried about that.”
For this reason, the National Hospice and Palliative Care Committee issued a recommendation a one-year grace period on punishments against health care practitioners deferring or halting life-sustaining treatment for ineligible patients.
Some observers pointing to a serious lack of social awareness on the need for hospice and palliative care and other forms of treatment to improve quality of life for terminally ill patients once life-sustaining treatment has been halted or deferred.
“Halting life-sustaining treatment doesn’t mean not providing any medical services for terminally ill patients,” said Seoul National University medical school professor and life-sustaining treatment expert Yoon Young-ho.
“To improve quality of life for terminally ill patients, we need to promote home hospice and palliative care, expand locally based hospice facilities, and improve social perceptions on the use of hospice and palliative care,” Yoon said.
By Kim Yang-joong, medical correspondent
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