SEOUL, Feb. 24 (UPI) -- A hospital in South Korea said Tuesday it will ask the Supreme Court for permission to keep a woman on life support against the wishes of her family.
Severance Hospital in Seoul says it will appeal a lower-court order to remove respiratory equipment from a 77-year-old comatose woman publicly identified only by her surname Kim, Yonhap news agency reported.
"The patient reacts to pain, her blood pressure is stable and required nutrition is delivered properly. We cannot remove the respiratory equipment as she will surely die within a few hours without help," said Park Chang-il, the hospital's chief.
The woman suffered brain damage and has been in a coma since undergoing lung surgery last February and doctors say her chance of recovery is low, her family said in court documents.
An appellate court this month upheld the lower-court ruling in the case, the first of its kind in South Korea involving euthanasia.
