연명의료중단에 관한 법적 제언

This article deals with the issue of revising the Hospice and Palliative Care and Life-Sustaining Treatment Decisions Act concerning the withdrawal of life-sustaining treatment. The key arguments of the paper are as follows: First, it is necessary to expand the scope of the withdrawal of life-sustaining treatment from “patients at the end of life” to “terminal patients”. The main reason is to reflect the current reality, where there is no clear distinction between patients at the end of life and terminal patients. It is desirable to uphold Article 10 of the Constitution and ensure that this expansion does not make the scope overly broad, as other requirements should be met for withdrawing life-sustaining treatment. Second, a minor patient with the capacity to consent should be allowed to make the decision to terminate life-sustaining treatment independently. However, if a legal representative disagrees with the opinion of the minor patient, the decision should be made based on the “best interests” of the minor. Under Article 18(1)(1) of the Act, it is desirable to presume the intention of the minor with consent capacity. It is reasonable to consider the decision can be regarded as the minor's intention if all of the patient’s family members have unanimously agreed to terminate life-sustaining treatment. Third, in cases where there are no unanimous statements of the two family members or in situations where the intention cannot be verified due to unreachable family members, it is desirable to make the determination to terminate life-sustaining treatment through a committee. This approach makes it possible to ensure procedural validity and prompt decision-making.