Three years have passed since the so-called’Dignity Judicial Act’, which allows people to not receive life-sustaining treatment by the patient’s own decision or with the consent of the family, was implemented. But it’s also affecting how well the corona spends its last hours of life.
Due to quarantine problems, there are many cases where the family’s deaths are not properly kept, and reporter Kim Min-pyo reported.
<기자>
[(평생 못한 얘기 다시 한 번 해보세요.) 사랑하고 고마웠어요.]
Gye-hwang Lee, a terminally ill cancer patient, told his wife what he had been holding in his heart before his death.
A week after filming this video, Mr. Lee comfortably closed his eyes.
[이상아/고 이계황 씨 딸 : 자식들 잘 키워주신 거, 그게 너무 감사하죠.]
A month before his death, Mr. Lee decided to accept death as fate, and instead of life-sustaining treatment, he made precious memories with his family for the rest of the time.
[이상아/고 이계황 씨 딸 : 눈물 나고 슬플 때도 많지만 그래도 ‘잘 모셨구나. 아버지가 좋은 곳에 가셨구나’라는 생각으로 지내고 있습니다.]
However, there are many families who couldn’t even die properly.
[김채리/고 김용식 씨 딸 : 아빠 잘 지내지? 못 가서 미안해. 아빠 보러 가고 싶었는데….]
Kim ran away after receiving a call from the nursing hospital that he was critical, but his father had already died.
A few days before his death, a video call became the last conversation between a woman and a woman.
[(아빠 할 말이 있어. 빨리 와, 지금 네가 와.) 아빠, 갈게. 근데 지금 코로나라서 갈 수가 없어. 내가 어떻게든지 얘기해서 가볼게.]
[아직도 머릿속에 매일같이 그 말은 잊히지 않아요.]
We haven’t been able to visit us properly due to the coronavirus outbreak, and we haven’t even been able to say goodbye to the last minute.
[김채리/고 김용식 씨 딸 : 임종도 못 보고 진짜 고려장 시킨 것밖에 안 돼요. 이건 진짜 죄인이 따로 없네요.]
Eun-joo Kim, a counselor for pre-sustaining medical intent, also breaks her heart when she thinks about her father’s death.
Both of the women and women wrote prior medical intents and prepared for a dignified death, but the reality was different.
Since there is no end-of-life room in the hospital, I had to send my father in the state of being in a six-person room and then transferred to the nurse’s treatment room.
[김은주/사전연명의료의향서 상담사 : 아버지를 병원 복도에서 보낼 수밖에 없는 현실, 그건 제가 벗어버릴 수 없는 죄책감의 짐이죠.]
Hospitals are more than 75% of the deaths in Korea.
However, as hospitals have restricted or banned visits due to coronavirus, there are situations in which they cannot even share their last greetings with their families at the time of death.
[허대석/전 서울대병원 혈액종양내과 교수 : 마지막에 두서너 달이라는 것은 굉장히 귀한 시간인데, 그걸 놓쳐버려요. 돌아가시고 난 다음에는 유족들이 후회하는 거죠.]
More than 820,000 people have promised in advance that they will not receive life-sustaining treatments that simply increase their lifespan for three years after the enforcement of the Dignity Law.
The history of dignity is not just about stopping life-sustaining care.
The reality of death in the Corona era clearly tells us that it is paramount to spend meaningful goodbye with your family while maintaining human dignity until the last minute.
(VJ: Minshin Ahn)
▶’News Story’ at 8 am on the 13th <코로나 시대와 존엄사>You can see it in more detail at