Family of comatose woman demands compensation for "overtreatment"

SEOUL, June 25 (Yonhap) -- The family of a comatose woman who was removed from
her life-support respirator earlier this week filed a compensation suit against
her hospital, claiming she had been given excessive treatment, their lawyer said
Thursday.
The 77-year-old patient, known only by her surname Kim, has been in a vegetative
state since suffering postoperative cerebral damage in February last year.
Complying with a Supreme Court ruling approving of her right to die with dignity,
doctors at the Severance Hospital turned off her respirator Tuesday morning.
Although doctors had expected her to die less than three hours after the tubes
were removed, she has continued to breathe on her own for a third consecutive day
and is being provided with fluids and nutritional supplements.
"Considering that the patient continues to breathe by herself without the
respirator, the hospital is deemed to have given excessive treatment," attorney
Shin Hyun-ho said. "The unnecessary treatment has damaged parts of her body,
including her teeth."
He added that the hospital infringed on the family's right to take care of the
woman through excessive and unsolicited medical treatment.
The family filed a malpractice suit against the hospital last year after the
patient lost consciousness but withdrew it before initiating the latest lawsuit.
"The hospital has put her in an isolated ward and banned the family from seeing
her," said Shin.
A hospital official refused to comment on the lawsuit, saying, "We are now
focusing only on the patient's condition."
brk@yna.co.kr
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