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

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.