LEGALIZED EUTHANASIA: A HUMAN RIGHTS AND BIOMEDICAL ETHICAL DIAGNOSIS
Sažetak
Euthanasia has been the subject of much legal, religious, moral, and human rights debate in recent years. At the center of this debate is how to reconcile competing values: the wish of patients to choose to die by waiving their right to life through voluntary consent, and the necessity to uphold the inviolable right to life of every person, as recognized by Article 6 (1) of the ICCPR. Even though euthanasia is mostly illegal, there is an ever-increasing drive towards legalization. As more States begin to re-examine and, in some instances, rescind their bans on euthanasia, the international human rights legal community needs to re-examine and reconfirm its viewpoint on the utmost essential human right, that is, the inviolable natural law right to life. By validating euthanasia through national statute, the fundamental human right to live is de facto nullified for many more people than the few whose assumed right to die is compromised. Regrettably, illogical arguments based on obscure and fictional rights, such as “the right to die with dignity,” largely go unopposed, while insistence on respect for true natural law and fundamental human rights, as well as established international jus cogens norms, including the right to life, are negated. The key medical moral criteria— autonomy, beneficence, non-maleficence, and justice — are characterized and illuminated in the context of euthanasia to provide a general, ethical, and moral analytical framework that aids policymakers in making ethically sound judgments.
Reference
African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights [ACHPR], 21 October 1981, Organization of African Unity.
American Convention on Human Rights [ACHR], 22 November 1969. General Secretariat, Organization of American States.
Aquinas, Thomas. 1702. Summa Theologica. Last accessed on September 23, 2025. https://ccel.org/ccel/aquinas/summa/summa.SS_Q64_A5.html
Bartels, Lorana, and Margaret Otlowski. 2010. “A right to die? Euthanasia and the law in Australia.” Journal of law and medicine 17 (1): 532–555.
Beauchamp, Tom, and James Childress. 2019. “Principles of Biomedical Ethics: Marking Its Fortieth Anniversary.” The American Journal of Bioethics 19 (11): 9–12.
Beauchamp, Tom, and James Childress. 2001. Principles of Biomedical Ethics. New York: Oxford University Press.
Beauchamp, Tom. 2007. “The ‘four principles’ approach to health care ethics.” Principles of Health Care Ethics 29 (1): 3–10.
Bianchi, Andria. 2008. “Human Rights and the Magic of Jus Cogens.” European Journal of International Law 19 (3): 491–508.
Blackstone, William. 1979. “Commentaries on the Laws of England: A Facsimile of the First Edition of 1765–1769.” Last accessed on September 23, 2025. https://press-pubs.uchicago.edu/founders/documents/amendIXs1.html
Clarke, David. 1999. “Autonomy, rationality and the wish to die.” Journal of medical ethics 25 (6): 457–462.
Colombo, Asher D., and Dalla‐Zuanna Gianpiero. 2024. “Data and trends in assisted suicide and euthanasia, and some related demographic issues.” Population and Development Review 50 (1): 233–257.
Corbet, Sylvie. 2025. “France’s National Assembly adopts long-debated bill legalizing end-of-life options”. AP World News. Last accessed on September 24, 2025. https://apnews.com/article/france-parliament-health-euthanasia-assisted-suicide-aid-dying-bill-
Criddle, Evan, and Evan Fox-Decent. 2016a. Fiduciaries of humanity: How international law constitutes authority. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Criddle, Evan, and Evan Fox-Decent. 2016b. “Keeping the Promise of Public Fiduciary Theory: A Reply to Leib and Galoob.” Yale LJF 126 (1): 192.
De Beaufort, Inez D., and Suzanne van de Vathorst. 2016. “Dementia and assisted suicide and euthanasia.” Journal of Neurology 263 (7): 1463–1467.
Deak, Csilla, and Vassilis Saroglou. 2017. “Terminating a Child’s Life? Religious, Moral, Cognitive, and Emotional Factors Underlying Non-Acceptance of Child Euthanasia.” Psychologica Belgica 57 (1): 59–76. DOI: 10.5334/pb.341
Dinstein, Yoram. 1981. “The Right to Life, Physical Integrity, and Liberty.” In The International Bill of Rights: The Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, ed. Louis Henkin, 114–137. New York: Columbia University Press.
Douthat, Ross. 2022. “What Euthanasia Has Done to Canada.” New York Times. Last accessed on September 22, 2025. https://www.nytimes.com/2022/12/03/opinion/ anada-euthanasia.html.
Ebrahimi, Nargus. 2012. “The ethics of euthanasia.” Australian Medical Student Journal 3 (1).
European Convention on Human Rights [ECHR], 4 November 1950, as amended by Protocols Nos. 11, 14 and 15, ETS No. 005.
Farer, Tom. 1992. “The Hierarchy of Human Rights.” American University International Law Review 8 (1): 115–119.
Finnis, John. 1997. “Euthanasia, morality, and law.” Loy. L.A.L. Rev. 31 (1): 1123–1138.
Fleming, John. 1996. “Euthanasia: human rights and inalienability.” The Linacre Quarterly 63 (1): 44–56.
Fontalis, Andreas, Efthymia Prousali, and Kunal Kulkarni. 2018. “Euthanasia and assisted dying: what is the current position and what are the key arguments informing the debate?” Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine 111 (11): 407–413.
Fox-Decent, Evan, and Evan Criddle. 2018. “The Internal Morality of International Law.” McGill Law Journal 63 (3): 765–781.
Gillon, Raanan. 1994. “Medical ethics: four principles plus attention to scope.” Bmj 309 (6948): 184.
Hospers, John. 1980. “Libertarianism and legal paternalism.” Journal of Libertarian Studies 4 (3): 255–265.
International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights [ICCPR], 19 December 1966, UN General Assembly Resolution 2200A (XXI).
Iserson, Kenneth V. 1999. “Principles of biomedical ethics.” Emergency Medicine Clinics 17 (2): 283–306.
Jakhar, Jitender, Saaniya Ambreen, and Shiv Prasad. 2021. “Right to life or right to die in advanced dementia: physician-assisted dying.” Frontiers in Psychiatry 11 (1): 622446.
Johnson, Vincent. 2018. “The Fiduciary Obligations of Public Officials.” St. Mary's Journal on Legal Malpractice & Ethics 9 (1): 298.
Jošt, Marijan, and Thomas S. Cox. 2000. “Food production and bioethics.” Sociologija sela 3 (4): 149.
Keown, John. 2018. Euthanasia, ethics and public policy: an argument against legalization. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Knoetze, Adriaan, and Shaun De Freitas. 2019. “The protection of conscientious objection against euthanasia in health care.” Potchefstroom Electronic Law Journal 22 (1): 1–32.
Koji, Teraya. 2001. “Emerging Hierarchy in International Human Rights and Beyond: From the Perspective of Non‐derogable Rights.” European Journal of International Law 12 (5): 917–941.
Lagerwall, Anne, and Anthony Carty. 2015. “Jus cogens.” Oxford Bibliographies-International Law 1.
Levitt, Dan. 2014. “Ethical decision-making in a caring environment: The four principles and LEADS.” Healthcare Management Forum 27 (2): 105–107.
Lewis, Penney. 2007. “The empirical slippery slope from voluntary to non-voluntary euthanasia.” Journal of Law, Medicine & Ethics 35 (1): 197–210.
Maisonneuve, Odile. 2023.“Netherlands: Euthanasia of children under 12 without their consent.” European Institute of Bioethics. Last accessed on September 22, 2025. https://www.ieb-eib.org/fr/actualite/fin-de-vie/euthanasie-et-suicide-assiste/pays-bas-vers-l-euthanasie-des-enfants-de-moins-de-12-ans-sans-leur-consentement-2167.html
Mandal, Jharna, Dinoop Korol Ponnambath, and Subhash Chandra Parija. 2017. “Bioethics: A brief review.” Tropical parasitology 7 (1): 5–7.
May, Allyson. 2015. “Thomas Aquinas (c. 1225-1274) – from Summa Theologiae: Whether One is Allowed to Kill Oneself.” The Ethics of Suicide Digital Archive. Last accessed on September 22, 2025. https://ethicsofsuicide.lib.utah.edu/selections/thomas-aquinas/
Mill, John Stuart. 1859. On Liberty. London: The Walter Scott Publishing Co., Ltd.
Nowak, Manfred. 1993. “UN covenant on civil and political rights: CCPR commentary.” Last accessed on September 22, 2025. https://searchlibrary.ohchr.org/record/14675
Orakhelashvili, Alexander. 2006. Peremptory Norms in International Law. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Pereira, José. 2011. “Legalizing euthanasia or assisted suicide: the illusion of safeguards and controls.” Current Oncology 18 (2): e38.
Pollard, Brian. 1998. “Human Rights and Euthanasia.” Brian Pollard. Last accessed on September 22, 2025. https://pdf4pro.com/view/human-rights-and-euthanasia-bioethics-1934.html
Pollard, Brian. 2001. “Can euthanasia be safely legalized?” Palliative Medicine. 15 (1): 61–65. DOI: 10.1191/026921601668201749
Rackham, Harris. 1926. Aristotle. The Nicomachean Ethics. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.
Raiken, Alexander. 2024. “From Exceptional to Routine: The Rise of Euthanasia in Canada.” Ethics and Public Policy Center. Last accessed on September 22, 2025. https://eppc.org/publication/from-exceptional-to-routine-the-rise-of-euthanasia-in-canada/
Ramcharan, Bertrand. 1983. “The right to life.” Netherlands International Law Review 30 (3): 297–329.
Reingold, Rebecca, and Leticia Mora. 2019. “An International Human Right to Die with Dignity.” O Neill Institute for National and Global Health Law. Last accessed September 22, 2025. https://oneill.law.georgetown.edu/an-international-human-right-to-die-with-dignity/
Reingold, Rebecca and Leticia Mora. 2020. “Child Euthanasia in Belgium.” O’Neill Institute for National and Global Health Law. Last accessed on September 22, 2025. https://oneill.law.georgetown.edu/child-euthanasia-in-belgium/
Rietjens, Judith, Paul. J van der Maas, Bregje D Onwuteaka-Philipsen, Johannes van Delden and Agnes van der Heide [Rietjens et al.]. 2009. “Two Decades of Research on Euthanasia from the Netherlands. What Have We Learnt and What Questions Remain?” Bioethical Inquiry 6 (1): 271–283. DOI: 10.1007/s11673-009-9172-3
Rousseau, Jean-Jacques. 1762. The Social Contract (1762). Last accessed on November 4, 2025. https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.203827/page/n17/mode/2up
Shala, Irena, and Kilda Gusha. 2016. “The debate over Euthanasia and human rights.” European Scientific Journal 12 (8): 73–81.
Sneddon, Andrew. 2001. “What's Wrong with Selling Yourself into Slavery? Paternalism and Deep Autonomy (Por qué está mal moralmente venderse uno mismo como esclavo? Paternalismo y autonomía profunda).” Crítica: revista hispanoamericana de filosofía: 97–121.
Universal Declaration of Human Rights [UDHR], 10 December 1948, UN General Assembly Resolution 217A.
Van Aardt, Willem. 2004. “State responsibility for human rights abuses committed by non-state actors under the constitution.” PhD diss. North-West University.
Van Aardt, Willem. 2021. “The mandatory COVID-19 vaccination of school children: A bioethical and human rights assessment.” Journal of Vaccines & Vaccination 12 (3): 1–6.
Van Aardt, Willem. 2022a. Covid-19 Lawlessness. Chicago: Mallard Publications.
Van Aardt, Willem. 2022b. “Jus Cogens Norms, Public Policy and the Fiduciary Criterion of Morality.” De Rebus SA Attorneys Journal. The Law Society of South Africa: 13–15.
Varkey, Basil. 2021. “Principles of clinical ethics and their application to practice.” Medical principles and practice 30 (1): 17–28.
Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties, 22 May 1969, United Nations Conference on the Law of Treaties.
Williamson, Evers M. 1977. “Social Contract: A Critique.” Journal of Libertarian Studies 1 (3): 185–194.
Yarwood, Lisa. 2009. “State Accountability for Breaching Jus Cogens Norms.” Ph.D, diss. University of Exeter.
Yarwood, Lisa. 2010. State Accountability under International Law: Holding states accountable for a breach of jus cogens norms. London: Routledge.
Zdenkowski, George. 1997. “Human rights and euthanasia.” Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission Australia. Last accessed on September 22, 2025. https://humanrights.gov.au/sites/default/files/content/pdf/human_rights/euthanasia.pdf
Zenović, Predrag. 2012. “Human rights enforcement via peremptory norms–a challenge to state sovereignty.” Riga Graduate School of Law Research Papers 6.
