(image: Korea Bizwire)
SEOUL, Nov. 22 (Korea Bizwire) — More than 1 million people have vowed not to receive life-sustaining treatment when they reach a terminal state of health, data showed Sunday.
The Ministry of Health and Welfare and Korea National Institute for Bioethics Policy reported that as of October of this year, a total of 1,075,944 Koreans had signed an advance directive refusing life-sustaining treatment.
Among them, 747,219 people (69.4 percent) were women, easily surpassing the 328,725 men (30.6 percent).
Anyone over 19 years of age can sign up to forgo life-sustaining treatment at a designated agency.
As of October of this year, 181,978 patients had decided to suspend or abort all life-sustaining treatment, rising from 31,765 patients in 2018, 80,003 in 2019 and 134,945 in 2020.
Among them, 108,140 were men and 73,838 were women.
Those who signed to refuse life-sustaining treatment, however, stood at a mere 4.1 percent (7,478 patients).
Lina Jang (linajang@koreabizwire.com)
