연명의료결정제도의 한계와 개선 방향 모색을 위한 고찰

Abstract

「The Act on Hospice and Palliative Care and Decisions on Life-Sustaining Treatment for Patients at the End of Life」 (hereinafter referred to as the "Life-Sustaining Medical Care Decision Act") was enacted in February 2016 in accordance with the recommendations of the Special Committee under the National Bioethics Committee on Life-Sustaining Medical Care Decision, issued July 31, 2013(2013.7.31) (hereinafter referred to as the "Recommendation"). The Act's purpose is designed to protect human the dignity and values of human beings by respecting the patient's best interests and self-determination in the dying process in the decision and implementation of hospice and palliative care in the dying process and the patient's life-sustaining treatment and its discontinuation of life-sustaining treatment in the dying process. The Life-Sustaining Medical Care Decision Act has a special legal status that can take precedence over the general law on medical care regarding when it comes to the determination and implementation of life-sustaining care and hospice. In order to realize the legislative purpose of the Life-Sustaining Medical Care Decision Act, the Life-Sustaining Medical Care Decision System has been in effect since February 2018. Since its enactment, the Life-Sustaining Medical Care Decision Act has undergone five revisions, trying to compensate for deficiencies in the legislative and implementation process. Nevertheless, it is time to review some of the recommendations that have not been reflected in the legislative legalization process, problems identified during the past four years, and ways to improve the system in response to social changes in the social environment. In this paper, we will review the significance of the legislation and implementation of the Life-Sustaining Medical Care Decision Act and analyze the limitations of the Life-Sustaining Medical Care Decision System that occurred in the process. Finally, this paper we would like to proposes a direction for improvement in the Life-Sustaining Medical Care Decision System to better realize better the recommendations of the Special Committee's recommendations and the legislative intent of the Life-Sustaining Medical Care Decision Act.