Discussions are officially underway to allow the withholding or withdrawal of life-sustaining treatment, currently restricted to the end-of-life stage, starting earlier from the terminal stage.

The National Bioethics Committee announced on Friday that it held the first regular meeting of the 7th term committee and discussed measures to improve the life-sustaining treatment decision-making system.

The National Bioethics Committee is a presidential deliberative body established to review national bioethics and safety policies, with the 7th term committee formed in March of this year.

The committee decided to establish a special committee to discuss improvement proposals reflecting criticisms raised since the implementation of the life-sustaining treatment decision-making system.

Among the key tasks under review is expanding the timing for withholding or withdrawing life-sustaining treatment, which is currently limited to the "end-of-life" stage, to the earlier "terminal" stage.

As concerns have been raised that individuals without family members are left in blind spots of the system, discussions are also expected to include expanding the scope of persons who can confirm the intent to discontinue life-sustaining treatment from family members to a proxy designated in advance by the patient.

The special expert committee for improving the life-sustaining treatment decision-making system will consist of 14 experts from relevant fields, including the medical community, ethics community, patient advocacy groups, legal sector, religious circles, and the press, with the goal of drafting recommendations within this year.

In response to the advancement of artificial intelligence (AI) technology and the increasing demand for health and medical big data, the committee also deliberated on an operation plan for a special expert committee to discuss protecting the rights of information subjects and establishing data management systems.

The special expert committee on AI and health care data utilization will involve 13 experts to draw up institutional improvement recommendations.

Additionally, the committee discussed plans to form five sector-specific expert committees covering bioethics and safety policy, embryos, human derivatives, genes, and the protection of research subjects.

Chairperson Kim Ok-ju stated, "The two newly launched special expert committees are the core of the 7th term committee's activities," adding, "We will hold discussions in a direction that resolves the practical difficulties faced by patients, families, and medical staff regarding the life-sustaining treatment decision-making system, protects human dignity and rights, and advances data technology."

Minister of Health and Welfare Jeong Eun-kyeong, the chief secretary of the committee, stated, "Improving the life-sustaining treatment decision-making system and utilizing health and medical data are tasks directly linked to the lives of the public," and added, "We will make policy efforts to ensure that the committee's discussions lead to actual institutional improvements."