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There have been at least three cases of individuals choosing to die with dignity by not receiving life-sustaining treatment since the trial implementation phase of the Life-Sustaining Treatment Decision-Making Act began on Oct. 23.

“We have determined that, since the Life-Sustaining Treatment Decision-Making Act was implemented on a trial basis, three or four terminal patients have died without receiving life-sustaining treatment. In some of these cases, the patient had personally prepared a life-sustaining treatment plan, and in others, life-sustaining treatment was ended on the testimony of at least two family members and the confirmation of doctors,” said a spokesperson for the Korea National Institute for Bioethics Policy, a national agency that manages life-sustaining treatment, on Nov. 22.

The Life-Sustaining Treatment Decision-Making Act, which became law in Feb. 2016, makes it possible to end life-sustaining treatment on patients with no chance of surviving who have previously written a statement refusing life-sustaining treatment with the confirmation of two doctors. Life-sustaining treatment can be ended even without such a statement if two doctors sign off on testimony made by at least two family members. Life-sustaining treatment includes artificial respiration, cardiopulmonary resuscitation, hemodialysis and chemotherapy.

Since there have a number of cases in which life-sustaining treatment has been ended even during the Act’s trial implementation period, it is likely that the number of cases will greatly increase when the Act takes full effect next February.

“We need to act with great caution considering that it’s possible to end life-sustaining care with the agreement of all members of the family even when a patient has never expressed an opinion about life-sustaining treatment and considering that nearly all patients who are approaching death will qualify for ending life-sustaining treatment,” said Yun Yeong-ho, a professor at the Seoul National University medical school who is an expert in life-sustaining treatment and hospice care.

“At the moment, attention is entirely concentrated on ending life-sustaining treatment, but there also needs to be a social debate about what treatment and assistance we can provide terminal patients who are in the final stage of their life,” Yun added.

By Kim Yang-joong, medical correspondent

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