[‘우리 사회의 의사조력자살 법제화’에 대한 논평] 생애말기 인간의 존엄성이 구현되는 돌봄의 방향

Abstract

Public debates and discussions concerning physician-assisted suicide have recently arisen in South Korea in response to proposals made in the National Assembly for new legislation governing this and other aspects of end-of-life medical care. Two contrasting positions can be discerned in these debates: one position views physician-assisted suicide as respecting patients’ autonomy and guaran-teeing their right to a “death with dignity”; the other argues that physician-assisted suicide might be transformed into a “duty to die,” especially since dying care has not yet been well established in Korea. On this latter view, the expansion of hospice for end-of-life care should precede the intro-duction of physician-assisted suicide. The present article examines these two views in detail and explores the state of end-of-life medical care in Korea.