Abstract
The legal and bioethical problem of legalizing involuntary passive euthanasia as a practice of ending a person’s life, which in particular is in a minimal conscious state and with disabilities, on the example of the case Lambert and Others v. France of the European Court of Human Rights, is explored in this article. Due to the differences between the national legislation of the states on the regulation of euthanasia and given the lack of the international consensus on this issue, as well as the unified position of the judges on the legality of its application in the context of protecting the right to life on the basis of Art. 2 and 3 of the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms of 1950, the need to ensure adequate medical care and treatment guaranteed by the state in order to maintain/prolong a person’s life (first of all, artificial hydration and nutrition, mechanical ventilation, cardiopulmonary resuscitation, blood transfusions, dialysis, etc.), and subsequent rehabilitation, as well as palliative care as an alternative to euthanasia, is emphasized. Mandatory compliance with the principle of prohibition of discrimination against person based on health status is stressed. The consequences of using involuntary passive euthanasia, including the need to bring to legal liability, are analyzed.
Highlights
A separate international legal problem related to the end of a human life is the legalization of euthanasia, which raises many legal and bioethical issues concerning the acceleration of the process of dying, defining the criteria of death, the inalienability of the human right to life, as well as the possibility of its limitations
Euthanasia is often connected with the right to the dignity of a person linked to a decent life and decent death, to the right to privacy, and the prohibition of torture
France of the European Court of Human Rights to draw the attention of the scientific community to the legal and bioethical problem of legalizing of involuntary passive euthanasia as a practice of ending a person’s life, which in particular is in a minimal conscious state and with disabilities
Summary
A separate international legal problem related to the end of a human life is the legalization of euthanasia, which raises many legal and bioethical issues concerning the acceleration of the process of dying, defining the criteria of death, the inalienability of the human right to life, as well as the possibility of its limitations. It encourages research and discussions among lawyers, physicians, philosophers and representatives of religious communities, since the concept of life is a fundamental interdisciplinary category. Life is the highest intangible benefit for everyone regardless of their qualitative or quantitative characteristics, otherwise the quality of life becomes the highest good than life itself, when death is offered as a way out to get rid of a "worthless life" [Островська, 2017a: 51]
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