More than 1 mln People Sign Directive Refusing Life-sustaining Treatment | Be Korea-savvy

More than 1 mln People Sign Directive Refusing Life-sustaining Treatment


(image: Korea Bizwire)

(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)

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