End-of-life practices: a bioethical analysis of Brazilian Legislative Power projects, 1981-2020

Abstract

Active voluntary euthanasia (VAS) and assisted suicide (AS) are end-of-life practices that aim to minimize the suffering of people with incurable diseases, preserving their human dignity in the face of death, despite being surrounded by taboos and controversies. This study aims to investigate the legal-normative situation of these practices in Brazil by a qualitative documentary research that searched for data on the Federal Legislative Power websites from 1981 and 2020. Based on the dialectical hermeneutic proposal, this study discusses the path of political decisions on VAS, SA (and their relations with orthothanasia and palliative care), and the practical effects of their values and moral constructions on people’s self-determination in the dying process and in society.