• The Korean Society of Law and Medicine
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• v.20 no.2
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• pp.43-82
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• 2019

In Korea surrogate medical decision makings happen without legal grounds. The purpose of this article is to research the issues in preparing policies for decision-making on behalf of unrepresented patients. As aspects of comparative law, there are two approaches. One of them is to regulate default surrogate list. If no agent or guardian has been appointed, some legislatures provide that members of patient's family who is reasonably available, in descending order of priority of not, may act as surrogate: (1) the spouse, unless legally separated; (2) an adult child; (3) a parent; or (4) an adult brother or sister. If none of them is eligible to act as surrogate, some legislatures allow close friends to make health-care decisions for adult individuals who lack capacity. On the other hand there are other legislatures which provide no surrogate decision maker list but oblige the responsible authority to determine with advice of family members or friends of the patient. In the end the first approach can not guarantee that the surrogate decision maker like family members or friends will determine in the best interest of the patient.