I Became a Law School Genius

Chapter 55

『 Translator – Divinity 』

[Act on Hospice and Palliative Care and Decisions on Life-Sustaining Treatment for Patients at the End of Life]

On the laptop screen that Lee Ha-ru presented, a law with a name that seemed incredibly relevant to the topic we were dealing with was displayed.

“Where, where?”

Han Seol also came closer and peered at the screen.

Article 1 (Purpose) The purpose of this Act is to guarantee the best interests of patients and respect their self-determination, thereby protecting their dignity and value as human beings, by providing for matters necessary for hospice and palliative care, life-sustaining treatment for patients at the end of life, decisions on life-sustaining treatment and discontinuation thereof, and the implementation of such decisions.

Article 2 (Definitions) The definitions of terms used in this Act shall be as follows:

1. “End-of-life process” means a state in which there is no possibility of recovery, the patient’s condition does not improve despite treatment, symptoms rapidly worsen, and death is imminent.
2. “Patient at the end of life” means a person who has been medically determined to be at the end of life by the attending physician and a specialist in the relevant field pursuant to Article 16.

“Ah, this?”

After a series of incidents, the heated debate on the legalization of euthanasia surfaced in our society.

It was fortunate that a precedent clarifying the criteria for legal euthanasia was established, but that didn’t solve all the problems.

—So how do you prove the intent to refuse life-sustaining treatment?

It’s not like unfortunate situations like being in a vegetative state or unconsciousness give you a warning beforehand.

In most cases, patients reach such a critical state due to unexpected accidents.

Medical accidents that occur during treatment for other serious illnesses, or traffic accidents where they are hit by a truck running a red light.

Therefore, it’s often impossible to collect clues that could allow for presuming the ‘intent to refuse life-sustaining treatment’ in advance.

Being able to secure evidence to prove the patient’s beliefs, like in the Grandma Kim case, was actually… although it might be inappropriate to put it this way, a relatively ‘lucky’ case.

On the other hand, it was also a headache for hospitals.

The patient’s family would demand the immediate discontinuation of life-sustaining treatment, but it wasn’t easy to judge whether the evidence they presented was sufficient to convince even the Supreme Court.

If they readily stopped life support, trusting the family, and then the prosecutor came knocking, saying, ‘You fiend, that doesn’t constitute legal euthanasia,’ and indicted them for murder, the hospital would have to close its doors.

Therefore, there were growing calls to manage passive euthanasia by enacting laws and establishing systems, rather than relying solely on precedents.

“This Hospice something, the Act on Decisions on Life-Sustaining Treatment for short, is the result of that.”

“Ah.”

Lee Ha-ru nodded.

“But then, can’t we just handle this with this?”

I followed her gaze to the part she was pointing at.

Article 17 (Confirmation of the Patient’s Intention) ① The intention of a patient who wishes to make a decision on discontinuing life-sustaining treatment, etc., shall be confirmed by any of the following methods:

3. In the case of a patient aged 19 or older who is unable to express his or her intention due to a medical condition and does not fall under subparagraph 1 or 2… (omitted)… if there are two or more consistent statements from the patient’s family (meaning a statement from one family member if there is only one family member), the patient’s intention shall be deemed to be confirmed after confirmation by the attending physician and a specialist in the relevant field.

It was explicitly stated in the law that even without going to court, if there were consistent statements from the family, it would be recognized that the patient intended to discontinue life-sustaining treatment.

With this, the patient’s family could ensure that their loved one would no longer suffer and could rest in peace without a difficult legal battle.

It was a win-win situation for the hospital as well, as it reduced the burden of agonizing over the decision.

“However…”

I shook my head.

“This law cannot be applied to this case.”

“Why?”

“Look at the date.”

I pointed to a corner of the screen.

[Enforcement Date: August 4, 2017] [Act No. 14013, Enacted on February 3, 2016]

“The Act on Decisions on Life-Sustaining Treatment was enacted in 2016. The enforcement date was 2017.”

“So what?”

“Look at the case record again. When did this incident happen?”

Han Seol picked up the materials instead.

“The day A was discharged and died, that is… January 13, 2014.”

It was an incident that occurred before the Act on Decisions on Life-Sustaining Treatment even existed. Looking closely at the record, the charges were also filed around that time.

So we were currently in a trial that took place in 2014.

That was the reason why we couldn’t judge based on the current law.

“Wait, you even looked at the date?”

“Of course we have to. The opponent might point it out.”

“…Is this why you didn’t mention the Act on Decisions on Life-Sustaining Treatment from the beginning?”

“Of course.”

If we could apply the Act on Decisions on Life-Sustaining Treatment, there would be no need to go through the trouble of looking up precedents and examining evidence.

From the moment I confirmed the date of 2014 in the problem, this law had been erased from my mind.

“Is there anything you don’t know?”

Han Seol clicked her tongue in amazement.

“Okay, okay, this is not the time to be amazed. We’re in a hurry. Let’s continue.”

Since we concluded that the euthanasia in this case was illegal, it constituted a crime in some form.

The question was the type of crime and the form of participation.

“First of all, it would be homicide, right?”

Han Seol, who was looking at her laptop, said,

“There was that case where a father removed his son’s respirator to ease his suffering. That was concluded as homicide.”

“Well, that’s probably right.”

I nodded.

“But that’s not all.”

“Then what?”

“The defendant setting in this case is a bit strange.”

“The defendant… was Lee Eul-nam, the doctor, right?”

“Yes.”

It was already strange. When creating a problem in the format of a record like this, the defendant usually starts with ‘Kim Gab-dong’.

The name Lee Eul-nam only appears when there are two defendants.

But in this case, Kim Gab-dong, that is, A’s son who requested his discharge, wasn’t the defendant.

On the other hand, Lee Eul-nam, the doctor who received the request, had the waiver signed, and then discharged A, was set as the defendant.

Considering all these circumstances, there was only one conclusion.

“This problem, originally, there must have been two defendants.”

“Two?”

“Yes. Both Kim Gab-dong and Lee Eul-nam.”

Then it would make sense.

The only two people directly involved in the illegal euthanasia were those two.

It was natural to think that the problem was initially designed to examine the culpability of both Kim Gab-dong and Lee Eul-nam, and then Kim Gab-dong was removed from the defendant list after it was completed.

“Hmm, I wonder why they did that…”

“If you’re asking about the motive, it must have been the scoring criteria.”

The criteria for determining the winner in this match was already complicated.

It wasn’t as clear-cut as before, where guilt meant victory for the prosecution and innocence meant victory for the defense.

They said they would comprehensively consider the arguments for the charges and the supporting evidence, as well as how favorable or unfavorable the outcome was for the defendant, to calculate the score.

Adding two defendants to that would make it excessively complicated.

One judgment could be favorable to defendant 1 but unfavorable to defendant 2, and vice versa.

It wouldn’t be easy to compare the degree of favorability or unfavorability.

So, to simplify the scoring criteria, they reduced the number of defendants to one.

“That’s a reasonable explanation, but…”

Lee Ha-ru tilted her head.

“So what?”

“Let’s think about why they left Lee Eul-nam instead of Kim Gab-dong.”

Two defendants. Kim Gab-dong and Lee Eul-nam.

If we consider why the examiner chose Lee Eul-nam as the sole defendant instead of Kim Gab-dong while revising the problem, the ‘answer’ to this problem will reveal itself.

“Guys,”

Having made my decision, I declared,

“Let’s go with this for the charges.”

***

When the time came, we stood in the courtroom again.

Our team at the prosecution’s table, and Gu Min-hwan’s team at the table prepared for the defendant and defense counsel, all seated.

“Wow, it’s finally starting.”

“I’ve already learned so much just by watching the preparation process, what will they show us this time?”

I thought the audience might thin out during the material analysis time, but it seemed even more crowded than before we entered.

“Min-hwan hyung, fighting!”

And many of them were second-year students cheering for Gu Min-hwan.

Actually, they weren’t particularly close to Gu Min-hwan or had a favorable relationship with him.

In the first place, Gu Min-hwan himself didn’t show much interest in ordinary people.

“…”

Even now, he was staring intently at the prepared brief and materials, not even glancing at those chanting his name.

Then what was the meaning of this support?

“We can’t lose! Let’s show them the class of the second-years!”

The answer lay here.

The civil division had already finished its finals and representative selection.

As expected, the winner was Shin Seo-joon’s team.

If our team also won in the criminal division, it would be the first time in history that the second-years were completely defeated, and the Hankuk University Law School representative team would be composed solely of first-years.

—We cannot allow that!

Such a consensus had been implicitly formed.

It was fine to lose, but losing to Gu Min-hwan was acceptable.

After all, his career path was different from that of ordinary law school students.

But if they lost all the titles to first-year students who had been enrolled for less than six months, it would be a blow to their pride.

“…Hmm.”

At that moment, Gu Min-hwan raised his head.

And his dark, deep eyes were fixed not on the audience, but directly on me.

“Do you have something to say?”

I asked, meeting his gaze.

“…You said you beat that guy.”

“I suppose I did.”

Me, 1st place. Shin Seo-joon, joint 2nd place.

Although it was just once, a win was a win.

It wasn’t a permanent victory, and to maintain this ranking, I would have to study until I had nosebleeds during the finals.

“I look forward to it.”

With that short remark, Gu Min-hwan’s eyelids closed again.

‘He just says what he wants and then shuts down.’

Actually, I also had something to ask Gu Min-hwan.

Why does Shin Seo-joon dislike you? What exactly happened in the past…?

If I remembered correctly, this was the first time Shin Seo-joon had acted for something other than his ‘purpose’.

With my intervention, a clear deviation from the original story had occurred.

The Mock Trial Competition itself was an episode unrelated to the main story, but if Shin Seo-joon’s actions changed, it would be difficult to predict and prepare for future events.

If possible, I needed to know about what happened between him and Gu Min-hwan.

‘But that’s after we win this match.’

First, I had to defeat Gu Min-hwan.

I took a deep breath to compose myself and exchanged glances with my two teammates.

“Then, let’s begin. Prosecution, present your opening statement.”

Following the instruction, I stood up.

“Your Honor,”

The real battle begins now.