NHRC to Busan Prison Warden:「Pay Medial Costs for Incarcerated Cancer Patient」 Recommendation
The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) found that the「Busan Correctional Institution’s pushing off all of an inmate’s cancer treatment costs to the petitioner’s family living in economic hardship」 threatens the right to life itself. Regarding the complaint filed against the warden of the Busan CI, the Commission issued a recommendation that (1) the Busan CI warden must authorize payment of a reasonable amount of the costs of cancer-treating medicine; and (2) depending on the course of the disease and when necessary, the warden should recommend to the head of the Busan Regional Public Prosecutors Office that the petitioner’s sentence be suspended.
Petitioner Lee (57) had been incarcerated in Busan Correctional Institute when he was diagnosed as being in the final stages of cancer. After receiving surgery, the petitioner needed to continue receiving treatment for cancer; however, the petitioner, who had been low-income enough to qualify for receiving welfare payments, did not have the economic means while in prison to pay for cancer treatment. When the Busan CI warden, facing the possibly high costs for cancer-treatment medicine, transferred all the financial burden to the petitioner’s elderly siblings, the petitioner filed the complaint. The NHRC investigation found that: the warden had already contributed to the costs of the medical examination and the surgery, and the warden had discussed the issue of anti-cancer treatment drugs with the petitioner’s family before deciding to allot the costs of the medication to the family.
From the perspective that the costs of cancer-treatment medication necessary to sustain a person’s life is related to the right to life, and although the high costs of such treatment could mean that other inmates will have less money for medical treatment, the NHRC found that in the end analysis, the budget for medical treatment should be used according to the relative seriousness of the illness in question and the urgency of the medicine required. Further, the law states that correctional institutes have the obligation to give appropriate treatment to inmates who have become ill. The Commission investigation also gave consideration to the fact that owing to poverty status the petitioner had received state support for his medical costs before incarceration, and the fact that the advanced age of the petitioner’s remaining family meant that they too had no economic means. Further, the Commission also issued the recommendation that if the petitioner’s condition suddenly grow acute, that the Busan CI warden recommend to the Busan Regional Public Prosecutor’s Office to commute the sentence for the terminally ill inmate Lee. –End.
