Not just euthanasia: recognizing a legal positive right to palliative care.
As jurists, doctors, and ethicists are increasingly engaged in the debate as to whether and how to legalize euthanasia as a matter of public policy, less debate takes place on what it is submitted ought naturally to come before, i.e. the affirmation of a legal right to palliative care. In Israel, the draft law The Terminally Ill Patient (2001) includes a palliative care provision. It is submitted that such provision, laudable as it is, appears within a euthanasia-oriented framework and is given too limited a scope. Hence the suggestion that palliative care be given an autonomous role, and be recognized as a positive legal right.
Colombo
Sylviane
S
University of Haifa, Faculty of Law.
D005065:Euthanasia / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence*; D006801:Humans; D007557:Israel; D010166:Palliative Care / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence*; D019452:Terminally Ill / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence*