RIO A farewell message posted on the French actor’s social media Alain DelonThe 86yearold brought a topic that was taboo in many countries back on the table: the Suicide looked. One of the icons of 20thcentury cinema, Delon had already advocated the freedom to choose death rather than live a restricting aging. The debate has drawn supporters of the measure and critics concerned about the impact.
In 2019, the actor suffered two punches and today he lives with limitations but is not hospitalized. Still, he seems to have decided that prolonging existence no longer makes sense. “My life was very beautiful but also very difficult,” he wrote on his Instagram account, which was later deactivated. “I’ve never liked getting old; all the pain and trials I face daily leave me paralyzed.”
The actor has to undergo euthanasia Switzerland, where he lives, and the practice has been legal since 1942. One of his sons has already contested the information. In Brazil, the practices of assisted suicide as well as euthanasia (see the difference between the practices on the next page) are considered crimes, which contributes to the moral condemnation promoted by religious towards the practice.
Euthanasia (when a doctor administers a deadly drug to a patient) is considered simple murder. Assisted suicide (when the patient himself takes the drug indicated to die) is a crime against life, described in Article 122 as the act of “entracting or inciting, or assisting in, any person to commit suicide”. THAT Center for Life Appreciation (CVV)via the number 188, provides emotional support and suicide prevention 24 hours a day, voluntarily and free of charge.
The topic had already gained space in the international media in 2018 through the euthanasia of the British botanist award winner David Goodall, 104 years old, in a clinic in Switzerland. Like Delon, Goodall did not suffer from any terminal or terminal illness. Until 2016 he worked as a research associate at the University of Perth, at the Australia, where he taught throughout his life. But he said he made the decision because of increasing limitations on his independence.
“My skills have been on the wane for a year or two; my vision for more than six years,” he told reporters on the eve of his death as he checked into the clinic where he would voluntarily end his life. “I don’t want to go on with my life. I look forward to having the opportunity to close it tomorrow.” For the last meal, Goodall ordered fish and chips, a British tradition. He left listening to his favorite composer, Beethoven.
Alain Delon is a longtime activist for the cause of assisted suicide. He lobbied for passage of the law to guarantee the practice in France. When he had to undergo surgery for the strokes he suffered in 2019, he said: “Aging sucks! You lose face, you lose your sight.” In an interview last year, he explained, “Euthanasia is the most logical and natural thing to do. At a certain age and stage of life, we have the right to leave this world in peace, without the assistance of a hospital or life support.”
However, such measures are not a reality in most parts of the world. Assisted suicide is legal in countries such as the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, Germany, Spain, Canada, Colombia and some states in the United States. But it can only be applied to cases of fatal or incurable diseases that create unbearable suffering for the patient. In Switzerland, these conditions are not necessarily prerequisites, and the interpretation of “unbearable suffering” is somewhat broader.
“(Death) is nowhere easy,” explains doctor Gérson Zafalon Martins of the Brazilian Society for bioethics. “In all these countries the requirements are similar, the patient must have an incurable disease, an unbearable condition with no prospect of improvement. That is, there must be justification and the patient must be clear in order to make a decision in psychiatric conditions. It should also be remembered that we are not talking about an obligation, but about a right.”
A survey of the specialist shows that in 2020 in NetherlandsFor example, 2,901 requests for euthanasia were made; of which only 899 were granted. Most involved elderly, terminal cancer patients. “It’s a cultural problem, you can’t get away from it, death is a big taboo for us,” says lawyer Luciana Dadalto, specialist and author of the book Vital Testament. “We believe that dying is the worst thing that can happen to a human being. And as we think, we do everything to prevent this. We have no death education, no understanding that we are finite beings, that mortality is part of our history.”
This approach to the issue has met with resistance in the religious community. THAT Catholic Church condemned assisted suicide. “The Church believes that there will always be hope and meaning in a person’s life as long as he or she lives,” said the coordinator of the Pontifical Core for Faith and Culture. Catholic University (PUC) of São Paulothe biologist and sociologist Francisco Borba Ribeiro Neto.
“As medicine advances, we are becoming better and better at enabling people to enjoy life, even with many limitations due to illness and old age, and they would always have to invest to ensure that hope, that quality of life, that possibility of survival, even at very participate in social life with severe health restrictions. It is important to emphasize that what we are defending is not the idea that people should continue to suffer, but the idea that they continue to have the ability to be happy and to contribute to the happiness of others, even in a very difficult situation.”
Assisted suicide can take place at home or in a hospital. The patient is prescribed a dose of a deadly drug, usually given orally. The suicide is being filmed so the police can confirm it was a purely personal decision.
For advocates of assisted suicide, the law is seen as an important step because it supports the legality of the law and guarantees, for example, that families receive life insurance. “It’s not about encouraging suicide,” Judge Diaulas Costa Ribeiro said court of justice from the federal district, specialist in medical bioethics and member of the End of Life Commission of the Federal Councilor for Medicine (CFM). “We are talking about very ill patients with no prognosis who suffer from physical pain; this patient refrains from continuing to live in this condition.”
Legislation is important because it supports the legality of the law and guarantees, for example, family life insurance. “But in Brazil it’s a crime. The religious character of the country is very strong and indeed one religious commandment is repeated in the legislation. Criminal law should not serve religion,” says Ribeiro. In the country, the Federal Council of Medicine (CFM) authorizes doctors to interrupt treatment of the terminally ill if it is the person’s express wish to do so. The practice is called orthothanasia and tends to cause confusion because of the name. But this is a very different practice than euthanasia or assisted suicide.
In fact, it is opposed to dysthanasia or therapeutic stubbornness. This occurs when the patient is no longer able to recover, but is still being kept alive by devices and receiving treatments that do not change their prognosis.
The American Medical Association (AMA) speaks out in its code of ethics against assisted suicide. The entity points out that the hiring is incompatible with the doctor’s role as a professional promoter of medical treatment. Rather than helping death, the association emphasizes that the physician’s role is to support patients with terminal illnesses, respecting their autonomy and providing pain control and comfort mechanisms.
“Doctors generally feel a lot of pressure from the patient’s family, especially with the phrase ‘As long as there is life there is hope,'” says doctor Gérson Zafalon Martins. If the patient is clear, his word is sufficient to express his will regarding the treatment. The socalled living will is a legal form of notarization of will and also applies to unconsciousness.
“The essence of my will is this: if I have an incurable, irreversible disease, I do not want extraordinary measures, I want them to respect the time of my death, without prolonging my suffering, without artificial life support, without invasive techniques. without drugs to heal just part of my body,” says attorney Luciana Dadalto. “I want to be seen as a person, not just a part.”
The whole discussion is still in its infancy in Brazil and is limited to the academic environment. There is no news about people who have tried courts to guarantee assisted suicide. “There is no demand because the topic is not discussed,” summarizes Diaulas Costa Ribeiro.
euthanasia
The word comes from the Greek and means “good death”. Euthanasia consists of the use of a lethal dose of a drug by a doctor who oversees the treatment of a terminally ill patient with no prospect of recovery.
euthanasia
In euthanasia, it is the patient himself who takes the deadly medicine. It is also most commonly used by terminally ill patients suffering from terminal illnesses.
orthothanasia
In this case, it is not an early death. But it doesn’t move it either. Practice shows that in incurable cases with no prospect of recovery, useless therapeutic efforts should not be undertaken.
dysthanasia
The practice is also known as therapeutic tenacity. If there is no prognosis for the patient’s recovery, their life is artificially extended with devices and drugs.