The city of Incheon has created a forum to jointly examine care and legal-rights protection systems so that terminal dementia patients can bring their lives to a close within the community without losing their dignity. Incheon announced that on the 24th it held the 2026 Symposium for the Care of Terminal Dementia Patients under the theme of guaranteeing the right to life and property rights of terminal dementia patients, at the Maria Hall in the new wing of Incheon St. Mary’s Hospital.
 [코리안투데이] The 2026 Symposium for the Care of Terminal Dementia Patients © 장형임 기자 |
The Incheon Metropolitan City (Mayor Park Chan-dae) held the symposium on August 24 in co-hosting partnership with the Incheon Metropolitan Dementia Center and the Regional Hospice Center of the Catholic University of Korea Incheon St. Mary’s Hospital. The event drew some 150 participants, including families of dementia patients, staff from dementia relief centers and hospice services, public guardians for dementia patients, and other field experts, as well as members of the general public.
The symposium was arranged to discuss policy and practical tasks for ensuring a dignified end of life for terminal dementia patients and for protecting their substantive rights and interests. Beginning with the theme of a death that preserves the dignity of dementia patients in 2022, Incheon has presented a key topic in end-of-life dementia care each year, and this year marked the fifth edition.
This year the central agenda items were advance care planning, which allows patients to comfortably conclude their lives in the place where they have lived, and a property-management support system to prevent financial harm. Because dementia gradually diminishes cognitive function and makes it harder for patients to express their own wishes, preparing decisions about one’s way of life and property in advance, and backing this up institutionally, has long been pointed out as a challenge in the field.
The event proceeded with three thematic presentations by experts in medicine, nursing, and law, followed by an on-site question-and-answer session. In the first presentation, Professor Seo Ji-won of the Department of Neurology at Dongguk University Ilsan Hospital laid out the policy direction of advance care planning under the theme of the importance of establishing advance care planning as a core element for AIP (Aging in place) and DIP (Dying in place) of dementia patients, centered on the Fifth Comprehensive Dementia Management Plan.
Next, Professor Ko Ha-na of the Department of Nursing at Gachon University presented on the use of counseling tools for establishing advance care planning for older adults with dementia who aim to conclude their lives in place (DIP), along with cases of field application, sharing concrete measures that can be used in practice. Finally, Professor Park In-hwan of the Law School at Inha University proposed legal and institutional improvements to protect the self-determination and property rights of dementia patients, in a presentation on the need for and tasks of a property-management support system to protect the rights of dementia patients.
In the comprehensive Q&A session that followed, field practitioners and families of dementia patients shared the practical concerns they face and sought realistic alternatives for creating a dignified environment for end-of-life care.
Park Mi-ae, head of the city’s Health Promotion Division, said, ‘For terminal dementia patients to safely conclude their lives within the community without losing their dignity, not only the care system but also the legal rights-protection system must support them in an organic way.’ She added, ‘We will actively gather the diverse views of experts and citizens raised at this symposium to develop a dementia-safe care policy that people can truly feel.’
지역 홍보대사 신청 기자양성과정 신청 코리안투데이 지부장 신청 코리안투데이 인천강화
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