His Eminence's Dignified Death

His Eminence "declined heroic treatment" — Cardinal chose dying with dignity. The Cardinal was "active advocate of dying with dignity" and once said, "Hospice care, which helps those at the end of life to keep the dignity of their soul and body as human, is the noblest care." He also "frequently pointed out the problems associated with what he felt was the meaningless prolongation of life through medical intervention, promoting the right to die with dignity."

Unfortunately, the word "dignity" has been coopted by the enemy, so much of the above might go misinterpreted. As said before, this act is an opportunity to highlight the Ordinary/Extraordinary Means distinction, which, like all Catholic doctrines, is clear and makes a great deal of sense. "Refusal of 'ordinary' means of treatment [i]s considered suicide, while refusal of 'extraordinary' means [i]s not."

The story of His Eminence's attending physician is well worth relating:

Chung In-sik, a professor of internal medicine at Kangnam St. Mary’s Hospital who was Kim’s attending physician, said he remembers vividly the day that Kim was admitted to the hospital on Sept. 11, 2008. “Kim made two requests. First, he said I should provide no meaningless treatment to prolong his life. He was strongly opposed to intubation,” Dr. Chung said. “He repeatedly made me promise [not to intubate]. Second, Kim asked that he never receive special treatment.”

Dr. Chung said he didn’t know what to do with Kim’s requests because current laws bar a doctor from stopping medical treatment of a patient and because, as a doctor, he believes he must do his best to help a patient until the end of life.

“I was worried that I would become a subject of criticism,” he said. “I asked the Catholic Church to notarize the requests ... Then, Cardinal Nicholas Cheong Jin-suk said he would take all responsibility for what would happen, taking the burden from the doctors.”

Dr. Chung remembered the late cardinal as a benevolent godfather. “Kim held the doctors’ hands and thanked us,” he said. “I used to visit Kim’s ward three times a day. Whenever I came out from the ward, I felt such comfort in my heart.”