1st Case of Death With Dignity Dies
By Kang Shin-who
Staff Reporter
The woman at the center of the nation's first court-recognized case of "death with dignity" died at the Severance Hospital, Sunday, outliving the court order and a flawed diagnosis.
In a briefing, doctors of the Yonsei University-affiliated hospital, confirmed that Kim Ok-young, 78, died at 2:57 p.m., 201 days after she was removed from life support in line with a court order. The doctors said that she died due to massive organ failure after surviving more than a few close calls.
Kim's family originally filed a petition with the court to allow Kim to die with dignity after the hospital said that she had no chance of recovery from a persistent vegetative state.
The Supreme Court accepted the family's petition ― which stated that Kim had been opposed to being kept alive by a respirator ― clearing the way for the unprecedented move by the court to allow a person's life to be terminated based on doctors' recommendations.
Following the ruling, the hospital took her off life support. But she remained alive, breathing on her own until Sunday. Kim's family lodged a civil suit against the hospital after she went into a coma during a physical checkup. Later the family filed a criminal lawsuit, claiming the respirator attached to her for more than 19 months was not in fact life support, but actually a "torture tool."