고독사에 대한 법적 고찰 - 노인 고독사에 대한 법사회학적 논의를 중심으로 -

Abstract

According to the statistics on the aged in 2015 announced by the Statistics Korea, the Korean population of 65 years or older is 6,570,000 people, which accounts for over 13% of the total population. The elderly accounts for 7.3% of the total population in 2000, 9.3% in 2005, 11.3% in 2010 and 13.2% in 2015, which has continuously increased. It demonstrates that the population is rapidly aging and 1.2 million people increased when compared to the population in 2010. In particular, there were 1,223,000 single-senior households in 2015, an increase of approximately 440,000 households compared to those of 2005 (783,000 households), and the single-senior households account for 32.9% of the total elderly people. In addition, most single-senior citizens are isolated from family members and neighbors, suffering from diseases, poverty and loneliness, and solitary deaths of the aged are expected. According to the Seoul Welfare Foundation's investigation on 6716 unnatural death cases reported by the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency in 2013, there were 162 definite solitary deaths and 2,181 suspicious solitary deaths in Seoul (2,343 solitary deaths in total). The study started to prevent solitary deaths of the aged that may become more serious. For general understanding of solitary deaths of the aged in Korea, its concept, actual conditions and causes are examined and socio-legal aspects of solitary deaths, including 'human dignity', 'basic rights ensured by the nation' and conflicts between the 'basic rights ensured by the nation and rights of the aged' are discussed. Finally, the study comes up with measures to prevent solitary deaths of the aged. Here are some causes of solitary deaths. Most senior citizens who live alone do not receive economic supports from their family and they are in poor health conditions owing to absolute poverty and diseases. They are extremely vulnerable and exposed to solitary deaths. As the family structure and residential type have changed, single-person households have greatly increased, and senior citizens feel lonely owing to the social indifference and lack of local communities. Thus, it is important for the nation to have a greater interest in human dignity, justification for the existence of nation and obligations to ensure the basic rights, and access the problem. In fact, the Ministry of Health and Welfare established the 'General Support Measures for the Senior Citizens Living Alone' in 2012 to protect and support senior citizens. It is meaningful that it encourages private-public cooperations to prevent the aged living alone and strengthens protection and support for the aged, surpassing the previous system of merely checking the senior's safety. However, there is a big regional difference in full-time social service workers or financial independence of the local government, which makes it difficult to expect huge accomplishments unless there are efforts to cooperate with the private organizations. Social system that guarantees jobs for the aged and attracts social engagement of the aged need to be built and a healthy community should be fostered by supporting community and leisure lives and establishing a social family system.