ETHICAL, LEGAL, AND PRACTICAL ASPECTS OF EUTHANASIA AND ASSISTED SUICIDE

Апстракт

This paper provides an overview of the definition of the term euthanasia, its
forms, historical development and legal nature. In recent years, the issue of
euthanasia and its legalization has often become the subject of stimulating
discussions. Within those discussions, supporters and opponents of the early
termination of life appear, but there is no unified opinion on this topic. The reasons
why nowadays the question of ceasing a human life is opened are evident.
The great scientific achievements in the field of modern medicine, which
make possible on one hand to protect and extend human life, and on the other hand,
the great respect of society for the autonomy of the individual and the distancing of
the traditional spiritual values. The issue of legalizing euthanasia goes through the
historical stages of religion, ethics, medicine, law, but also the general cultural
context while being examined through the prism of the individual view of each of
us, depending not only on our stage of life.
Modern times are faced with homosexuality, surgical sex change, promotion
of same-sex marriages and at the same time appeal for the acceptance of diversity,
not as a difference but as a divergent given of the phenomena in the world around
us as human values. This means that the stereotype of human values within the legal
framework is broken in relation to the ethical, social, legal, religious pragma of the
world, in that case why should euthanasia be a stigmatization of doctors if it is the
autonomous will of the sick or his relatives - in the instance of lacking
consciousness to decide for themselves - or when there is no possibility of cure.
States have different legislation in their legal system regarding the making
of this decision. Euthanasia is legalized in the legal legislation of some European
countries (Netherlands, Switzerland, Luxembourg and Belgium). Other countries
have pronounced sanctions for the perpetrators in their legal system (North
Macedonia, Croatia, Czech Republic). Others go to the opposite extreme, where
they have legalized the euthanasia of terminally ill children (Netherlands,
Belgium). On top of this different way of regulating legal systems in countries
around the world, there are countless circumstances that have an impact when
making the decision whether this act will be sanctioned. Especially from a
scientific, cultural and religious aspect. Today, the number of countries that legalize
passive euthanasia is gradually increasing, choosing a way and opportunity to help
the sick to reduce their suffering in a dignified way, but the number of countries
where it is sanctioned is still greater. A unified ethically accepted solution does not
yet exist, so in view of that, the matter of deciding to end the life of an incurably ill
person remains as a verdict for the legislative bodies in each country separately. From this research, I came to the knowledge that seriously ill people
suffering from an incurable disease and their loved ones are not prevented from
shortening their suffering in a dignified way in a country where euthanasia is
legalized.
In this paper, relevant court judgments from the practice of the European
Court of Human Rights of certain countries (Switzerland and France) will be
presented.