Abstract

MERCHAN-PRICE, Jorge. LA EUTANASIA NO ES UN ACTO MÉDICO. pers.bioét. [online]. 2008, vol.12, n.1, pp.42-52. ISSN 0123-3122.

This paper deals with the legal and moral reasons that prevent the physician from taking a patient's life. Among other reasons, medical doctors do not "kill" their patients because "killing" is not a therapeutic medical act. It does not reestablish the patient's previous state of health, nor does it preserve life. If the state wants to allow euthanasia or assisted suicide, there is no constitutional reason why the relatives of a patient who is ill cannot euthanize or assist the patient in committing suicide. It is they, not the physician, who must answer to society and their own consciences for doing so. The article also offers a clear and precise look at Sentence C-239/97 issued by the Constitutional Court of Colombia and analyses the reasons why some of the articles in Senate Bill 05/07 are inconsistent with that sentence and, therefore, are unconstitutional.

Keywords : Euthanasia; medical ethics; "kill"; decent medical doctor; world-wide medical mission; human dignity; dignity of life.

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