_WORLD WATCH______________________________
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Korea_______________
Drive for euthanasia begins
Doctors back legalization
The Korean Medical Association has proposed allowing doctors to kill their patients upon request, opening the campaign to legalize what they call “passive euthanasia.”
The group, which represents 70,000 South Korean doctors, has adopted a new ethics code which would allow physicians to accept written requests from family members to kill patients who are suffering. Experts said the code was designed to give doctors an excuse to conduct what they called a passive form of euthanasia, which is illegal in South Korea.
The government, however, said it would not allow such killings. “The ethics code would be against South Korea’s criminal law,” said an official at the Ministry of Health and Welfare. “It is too early for South Korea to launch a debate on assisted suicide,” the official said.
The doctors said their main motivation was not the suffering of patients, but the anger of families of terminally ill patients who demand a halt to medical treatment due to mounting bills.
The public rhetoric associated with the doctors’ statement, however, was less candid about the economic reasons for the new policy. “We are not seeking the legalization of euthanasia,” a KMA official said. “However, it is necessary for doctors to allow terminally ill patients who may be suffering from unbearable pain to die in peace.”
“No third person should be given the possibility to kill another human being legally,” the Korean National Council of Churches said in a statement of opposition to the policy.