The right to die and the freedom to commit suicide Cover Image
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Dreptul de a muri și libertatea de a te sinucide
The right to die and the freedom to commit suicide

Author(s): Veronica Dobozi
Subject(s): Criminal Law, Human Rights and Humanitarian Law, Health and medicine and law, EU-Legislation
Published by: C.H. Beck Publishing House - Romania
Keywords: the right to die; freedom to commit suicide; assisted suicide; the right to dispose of one's own body and life; ECHR case law;

Summary/Abstract: A right to assisted suicide is becoming increasingly prominent in the context of the medicalized and technologized world we live in, which allows for the prolongation of life to ages where, in the past, nature did not let us reach. We are talking about a right to assisted suicide, rather than a right to suicide, because there is no legal prohibition on suicide (except in the legislation of some states). This prolongation of life raises the issue of dependency for elderly individuals or those immobilized by a detrimental incident to their body, including the ability to voluntarily end their lives. Another aspect of assisted suicide has gradually expanded, especially in some countries, within public opinion, suggesting that the right to assisted suicide is not limited to elderly or seriously ill individuals but is ultimately an expression of the right to dispose of one's own body and life. It is even seen as an expression of the concept of human dignity, which is why some proponents of the right to assisted suicide refer to it as the right to die with dignity or the right to a dignified death. The invocation of this right has reached the level of the Court in Strasbourg, and a sufficient number of cases have emerged to outline the conflicting tendencies of European judges, namely the cautious approach of not officially recognizing a right to assisted suicide (in order to avoid contradicting the lack of consensus on the subject among the member states of the Council of Europe), while at the same time encouraging increased individual autonomy, manifested in the recognition of the right to dispose of one's own body.

  • Issue Year: XXI/2022
  • Issue No: 10
  • Page Range: 607-611
  • Page Count: 5
  • Language: Romanian
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