생명권과 자기결정권, 그리고 의사의 진료의무

Death with Dignity and the Right to Decide

Based on foreign examples and past debates, the minimal conditions for passive euthanasia can be suggested as following; (1) The patient is incurable by modem medical practice and his death is impending (less than 6 months), (2) Euthanasia is practiced solely to relieve physical pain of the patient, (3) If the patient can express his will, there should be a clear and sincere request or consent, (4) More than 2 doctors including doctor in charge should consent, (5) Euthanasia should be practiced in ethical way, (6) Patient family should agree(when the patient will is assumed.) It is hard to resolve issues regarding euthanasia based on past rulings and cases without concrete law. As in United States and Germany, clear and objective provisions of euthanasia and definitive method for patient's advanced directive should be legislated to resolve medical conflict and to relieve patient and family from agony. And death with dignity debate will not be able to proceed if it is only substantively approached because of unclear definition of euthanasia and benefit comparison way of thinking. Thus it is important to establish definitive process to decided legislation of euthanasia act and resolving conflicts arising from each step of the process among interested parties exchanging medical/ethical opinions.