SEOUL, South Korea – Doctors removed a comatose woman at the center of a landmark right-to-die case from a life-supporting respirator Tuesday as her family and two judges looked on.
The 76-year-old patient, identified only by her surname, Kim, has been in a vegetative state since suffering brain damage in February 2008. Her family sued to force doctors to take her off the respirator, saying their mother opposed keeping people alive with machines when there was no chance of revival.
The Supreme Court, upholding lower court rulings, granted the request last month, saying continuing medical treatment on patients with no chance of revival can "tarnish people's dignity."
The verdict — the first of its kind in South Korea — heralded a profound shift in the country's attitudes toward death.
Doctors at Seoul's Severance Hospital removed the respirator from Kim as her family and two judges watched Tuesday.
"I prayed with all my heart that the patient will rest comfortably," Dr. Park Moo-seok said in describing his sentiment as he took her off life support.
Some five hours later, she was still breathing, hospital officials said. Park said her death could take longer than expected if she continues to breath. The woman was still being fed fluids and nutritional supplements since the court order only called for removal of the respirator, hospital chief Park Chang-il said.
The hospital cautioned against using Kim's case as an example for stopping medical care to other suffering patients.
"Human lives are precious and are worth defending to the end," the hospital said in a statement. "Joy and pain are a part of life. There should be no such thing as making light of a dignified life under the name of a peaceful death."
Societal mores and laws in South Korea have largely been shaped by Confucian ideals that call for preserving and honoring the body. As recently as 2004, two doctors who took a severely brain-damaged patient off life support were convicted of "abetting murder" and received suspended prison terms.
But public sentiment has shifted in recent years; a 2008 survey indicated a majority of South Koreans favor stopping life support for the terminally ill.
Christian groups have voiced concern about the verdict.
"This verdict might bring about the wrong perception that human beings can choose the timing of their deaths, and we have concerns that it could lead to a trend belittling human lives for economic reasons and other burdens," said Chang Ik-sung, an official at the National Council of Churches in Korea.
According to a 2005 census, about 53 percent of South Koreans said they practiced religion, with 55 percent of them Protestant or Catholic Christians and 43 percent Buddhists.
A surfer catches a wave off of Kewalo Basin in Hawaii. AP Photo/Marco Garcia
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