Health ministry to convene 300-member citizen panel on end-of-life care

The health ministry said that a 300-member citizen panel will meet next month to deliberate on end-of-life medical care and the life-sustaining treatment decision system.

The second public deliberation forum of the Medical Innovation Citizen Panel is scheduled for Nov. 7-8 at Seoul National University's Siheung campus, the ministry said. The panel's steering committee, chaired by Kim Hak-rin, reviewed the forum's detailed format and operating plan at its 19th meeting on Oct. 30 at T Tower in Seoul, the ministry said.

Panels are chosen to reflect the country's population by region, gender and age, and the roughly 300 members have already taken part in a first forum on regional and essential medical care in July, along with online discussions and policy proposals. The upcoming session turns to a subject South Korea must confront as one of the world's fastest-aging societies: what kind of medical treatment and care people should receive at the end of their lives.

Over the two days, panel members will deliberate on three questions: when life-sustaining treatment should be withheld or withdrawn, who should be allowed to make that decision on a patient's behalf, and what care and support people want at the end of life. The discussions build on reading materials and online lectures the panel has studied since early October, along with expert presentations and question-and-answer sessions, before members break into small groups.

"End-of-life medical care and support are important issues that anyone can face, so we will do everything we can to prepare the deliberation forum so that citizen panel members can discuss the life-sustaining treatment decision system and end-of-life care in depth based on sufficient information," said Kim.

The ministry aims to draw up recommendations for improving the life-sustaining treatment decision system within the year, and the November forum is intended to feed public opinion into that work before the proposals are finalized. The panel's conclusions are to be reported to the Medical Innovation Committee, chaired by Chung Ki-hyun, by late November.