"Why Was Consent from the Younger Son Not Obtained for Life-Sustaining Treatment Withdrawal?" 60s Sue Medical Staff

Change from Attempted Murder Charge to Injury Resulting in Death After Detention

A man who was arrested on suspicion of attempted murder sued doctors, claiming that the hospital violated the life-sustaining treatment decision after the victim died and he was punished for injury resulting in death.

According to the Masan Dongbu Police Station in Gyeongnam on the 4th, Mr. A, in his 60s, was indicted last March on charges of strangling Mr. B, who lived with him while working as a day laborer at a house in Haman-gun, Gyeongnam, during an argument while drinking.

Mr. B was taken to the hospital immediately after the incident but fell into brain death.

The hospital, with the consent of the eldest son and attaching a disability certificate of the younger son who was serving time in prison at the time, stopped life-sustaining treatment, and Mr. B passed away on the 20th of the same month.

Initially, Mr. A was detained on suspicion of attempted murder, but after Mr. B’s death, the charge was changed to murder. During the prosecution investigation and trial, he was convicted of injury resulting in death and sentenced to 3 years and 6 months in prison, which he was serving.

While serving his sentence in January, Mr. A sued three doctors in charge at the hospital, claiming that he should have been punished for injury, not injury resulting in death, because the hospital stopped life-sustaining treatment with only the eldest son’s consent without obtaining consent from the younger son.

The key issue in this case is whether the younger son had cognitive disabilities to the extent that he could not independently decide on the discontinuation of his parents’ life-sustaining treatment, and whether the decision to stop life-sustaining treatment could be made solely based on the younger son’s disability certificate while he was incarcerated.

The police plan to inquire about this matter with the National Bioethics Policy Institute and proceed with the investigation based on the response.

According to the National Agency for Management of Life-Sustaining Treatment, the life-sustaining treatment decision system is a system that guarantees the best interests of patients in the dying process and respects self-determination by making decisions about life-sustaining treatment and its discontinuation, thereby protecting human dignity and value.

Advance discontinuation of life-sustaining treatment can be decided by individuals aged 19 or older by writing an advance directive for life-sustaining treatment.

It must be written after receiving sufficient explanation at a registration institution designated by the Ministry of Health and Welfare for advance directives for life-sustaining treatment to have legal effect.

If there is neither a life-sustaining treatment plan nor an advance directive and the patient cannot express their wishes, two or more family members can equally testify to a specialist about the patient’s usual intentions regarding life-sustaining treatment.

If this is also impossible, all family members must agree to discontinue life-sustaining treatment, and for minor patients, the legal guardian can decide.