The Right to Die with Dignity and Physician-assisted Suicide

In a recent proposed amendment to Korea’s legislation governing decisions on life-sustaining treatment, physician-assisted suicide is characterized as a form of “death with dignity.” However, there is no legal right to suicide in South Korea and the idea that physician-assisted suicide is a permissible and dignified way of dying is based on a misunderstanding of the constitutional right of self-determination, which entails only a right to refuse unwanted medical care. This article explains these misunderstandings concerning the concept of death with dignity and a patient’s right to self-determination and critically reviews the proposed legislation concerning physician-assisted suicide.