Over 26 percent of terminal cancer patients in South Korea were found to have ended life-prolonging treatment.

The National Evidence-based Healthcare Collaborating Agency(NECA) on Monday disclosed data collected in the year since a new law on life-sustaining treatment went into effect in February 2018.

Such treatment refers to medical procedures that simply prolong a patient's life without providing any curing effects such as CPR, artificial respirators, hemodialysis or anticancer medicine.

The findings show 26-point-four percent of over 54-thousand-600 adult cancer patients who died during the one-year period through January 2019 chose not to receive life-sustaining treatment from the beginning or suspended it. 

Among patients aged under 65, nearly 34 percent ended treatment compared to 23 percent among those 65 and older.

Well over 60 percent of terminal cancer patients in their 40s and 50s especially made the decision on their own without necessarily seeking consent from their families.