A case of questionable murder has arisen in Imsil-dong, Jeollabuk-do. An 80-year-old man cut his wife’s breathing tube with a knife to save her from the pain of dying slowly from the final stages of lung cancer as well as to prevent the family from having to take on the exorbitant price of treatment. The family was present when this happened; they said that “it happened so quickly that [they could not have done] anything about it.” The old man was apprehended by the police and released without any charges, as his examination revealed that the hospital was at fault for not releasing his wife when he said he wanted her to spend the rest of her days at home with him.
This episode brings to us a question: should euthanasia be supported? Doctors affirm that a person has around eleven weeks left to live after being diagnosed with the final stages of cancer. Although repetitive chemotherapy could lengthen this period by several weeks, it would mean a life confined to the hospital bed due to backlashes requiring stomach pumps, heart monitors and general life support. For this reason, seven out of ten Korean adults have agreed that “passive euthanasia”- euthanasia by withdrawal of medical treatment- is better than hospital treatment in cases of fatal diseases. Their reasons were: familial burdens(69.4%), ineffective, painful treatment(65.4%), economic reasons(60.2%), and request of the patient(45.2%).
On the other side, there is the hope argument. There are people who have miraculously been revived from the doors of death- it is the hope of all loved ones that the patient on his deathbed will be cured by some miracle of infinitesimally small chance. There have been cases in which patients woke up out of ten-year comas or were cured of third-degree womb cancer. Although the chance of miracles, such as these, is faint, there are people who wish to hold onto the hope until the last moment, especially if the person concerned is a loved one.
Currently, while active euthanasia- the application of toxic chemicals to induce death- is outlawed, passive euthanasia is legal in many countries as there is no way to stop patients from walking out of the hospital when they do not want to be treated. There have been movements to retract or advance the status quo: which should we support?
