EUTANAZIJA KAO KRAJNjI IZRAZ LIČNOG PRAVA ČOVEKA NA SAMOODREĐENjE

Abstract

The author discusses different segments of the institute of euthanasia ("murder out of mercy"), especially the question of the justification of its legalization. The subject of the analysis are the solutions of certain European regulations that have completely or partially decriminalized euthanasia, and then the domestic one, in which there is a collision of the norms of criminal and medical law. According to the positive serbian criminal law, euthanasia is a criminal offense and a privileged form of murder, while the Law on Patients' Rights indirectly allows the so-called passive euthanasia, which is not the optimal solution, which introduces legal uncertainty. Тhe Preliminary Draft of the Civil Code of Serbia, which embodies the proposal for the future civil law of Serbia, proposes the decriminalization of euthanasia, which is a solution that needs to be commented on. The aim of the paper is a comparative analysis of domestic and foreign solutions of this controversial institute - through its concept, types (active and passive euthanasia) and critical analysis of the reasons for and against its introduction into the domestic law. The author evaluates the proposal of the Preliminary Draft as progress, with the idea that euthanasia, despite all the controversies that accompany it, represents the ultimate expression of a personal right to self-determination (subjective civil right sui generis), in both modalities, without distinction.