A recent judgment by the Supreme court in South Korea has ordered patient’s respirator removed on request of patient relatives. Doctors treating a comatose woman must remove her from life support as her family requested, the South Korean supreme court said on Thursday—the first time it has ruled in favour of a patient’s right to die. The relatives had filed petition against the hospital as it was not ready to stop the ventilator. The patient was in vegetative state for more than a year. The relatives had argued that patient had always opposed keeping people alive with machines.
Does this ruling open up a pandoras box? We still do not know, but it is really a food for thought. How many people in poor country like India can afford a expensive ICU treatment for the dear ones. Such patients not only drain the resources but even the relatives too. But legalizing euthanasia will creates problems medico-legally, specially in cases of suicides.
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