A eutanásia sob a ótica do consentimento: reflexões sobre a autonomia pessoal no direito penal

Abstract

This work has the goal of analyzing the problem of euthanasia as a taboo in Brazilian society and promote a reflection in light of the individual's freedom of will to dispose of its most personal assets (the own life), and the constitutional principles that govern over the contemporaneous Criminal Law. The research is based on bibliographic review and doctrinal, legislative and jurisprudential analysis, encompassing both Brazilian legal system and international experiences. Initially, the legal assets concepts and their relevance to criminal dogmatics are discussed. Sequentially, it is studied the consent's role in the criminal science's world with focus in the medical practice, encompassing its validity, limits and juridic effects. The analysis results in the reflection about the different types of euthanasia and its ethic-juridical conflicts that involve the self-determination of the patient in irreversible suffering situations. Thus, the study proposes a reinterpretation of the Criminal Law's function in face of the bioethics and medicine advances.