미국의 자연사법(natural death act) 규범과 의료인의 면책규정이 주는 시사점

The moral questions raised by the right-to-die laws are a direct result of developments in modern technology. From the earlist times, the primary goal of doctors has been to cure the sick and comfort the dying. However, Modern technology has now allowed them to prolong life beyond the body’s natural ability to maintain itself. A major problem arise in situations such as these how an individual who has become incapacitated may control over certain decisions that will be made concerning his or her care. In United States, The Karen Quilan case gave rise to legislative activity in the host of state capitals, and several states had adopted statutes that formally recognized some forms of written directives describing some circumstances in which certain kinds of medical care could be terminated. These statues were sometimes dominated ‘living will’ acts, sometimes ‘right to dir’ acts and ocasionally ‘natural death’ acts. Today virtually every state has produced a living will statue. In the interest of protecting individual autonomy, such prologation of the process of dying for persons with a terminal condition or permanent uncon- scious condition may cause loss of patient dignity, and unnecessary pain and suffering, while providing nothing medical necessary or beneficial to the patient. The natural death act shall recognize the right of an adualt person to make a written directive instructing such person’s physician to withhold or withdraw life-sustaining treatment in the event of a terminal condition or permanent unconscious condition. The laws of the states had a concrete and complicate prior conditions of withholding or withdrawing life-prolonging procedure. In Korea, these lively dispute of legal policy on the preconditions and concrete procedure of living will act and natural death act. We schould permit a terminally ill person to execute his or her own living will or advanced directives according to the definite procedure.