Hospital withdraws bid for final appeal on mercy killing amid objection

SEOUL, Dec. 18 (Yonhap) -- A South Korean hospital challenging a court ruling to allow the euthanasia of a comatose woman agreed Thursday to her family's demand not to bring the case directly to the country's highest tribunal, an attorney said.

Seoul's Severance Hospital had sought to bypass an appellate court and ask the
Supreme Court to examine the ruling in an effort to bring a swift end to the
controversy over the so-called mercy killing.
The family of the 76-year-old patient, only identified by her surname Kim, has
balked at the intent, fearing the case may be portrayed as focusing on how
quickly the life support system is removed. The hospital needs consent from the
family to bypass the appeals court.
"The hospital said that it wanted to save time, but we are focused on natural
death for the patient under the right procedures, not on how fast the artificial
respiratory device is removed," the family's attorney, Baek Kyung-hee, said in a
statement.
The family sought court approval in June to remove the respiratory device from
the patient because she was deemed unlikely to recover from brain damage that she
incurred during a lung examination early this year.
A Seoul district court on Nov. 28 ordered the hospital to turn off the
life-support equipment, triggering controversy over the ruling, the first of its
kind in the country on the delicate issue.