Friday, July 26, 2024

S.KOREA
Medical community condemns re-proposed assisted dying bill, citing ethical violations

REACTIONARIES

기자명 Kim Ju-yeon
Published 2024.07.25 
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The re-proposed “Assisted Dying with Dignity Act,” which would allow patients with no hope of recovery to end their lives with physicians’ help, has been met with a backlash from the medical community.

Doctors argued that assisted dying does not promote patient self-determination and undermines physicians' professional ethics, which prohibit assisting suicide.

The medical community opposed the bill to allow assisted dying for terminally ill patients. (Credit: Getty Images)

“A bill that attempts to turn doctors into a tool for assisted suicide (euthanasia), although doctors are the ones who care for patients' suffering and enable them to live a dignified life until the day they die, can never help patients or the public die with dignity,” the Medical Ethics Research Society said in a statement on Wednesday.

“In countries where assisted suicide is legalized, adverse effects have occurred, including the recommendation of assisted suicide to depressed patients who are seeking treatment for suicidal thoughts,” the group said. “There were even amendments to the law to allow assisted suicide for people who are not terminally ill but claim to be suffering from life's pain, adolescents, and children.”

“We oppose the proposal that infringes on patients' right to self-determination and undermines medical ethics,” the group said, calling for the bill to be scrapped and a practical plan for the care of terminally ill patients to be developed.

“The medical ethics code strictly prohibits doctors from assisting or participating in a patient's suicide,” the organization said. “Prescribing and injecting suicide drugs to a patient under their care is a serious ethical violation that undermines the identity of a doctor as a healer. Immediately repeal this bill that undermines the professional ethics of physicians.”

The group said assisted suicide also does not guarantee patients' right to self-determination.

“The right to self-determination should not harm others. However, the practice of end-of-life self-determination is an unethical act that hurts and harms both the family and those around them,” it said. “If enacted, the law could lead to tragedies where doctors misinterpret a patient's plea of ‘I'm sick and would rather die’ as self-determination, leading to the patient's death.”


Fear of burdening family members with excessive care costs and worry that they will not receive dignified care can drive patients to consider assisted suicide, the organization said, calling for more hospice facilities and staffing to care for terminally ill patients.

“We urge lawmakers to recognize the needs of all people who will be facing the end of their lives,” the organization said. “Assisted suicide is never a way to preserve the dignity of life. Please do your best to prepare a system for dignified care at the end of life.”

Earlier, Rep. Ahn Kyu-baek of the Democratic Party of Korea introduced the bill for “Assisted Dying with Dignity Act” on July 5, which allows terminally ill patients to die with dignity based on the deliberations and decisions of the Assisted Dying with Dignity Decision Committee.

Ahn introduced a similar bill in June 2022 but it was abandoned due to the expiration of the 21st National Assembly's term.

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