Dignidade da pessoa humana e testamento vital: entre o biopoder e a bioética.

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to analyze the feasibility of advance directives of will, especially the living will, through the provisions applicable to the theme, when considering the guarantee of autonomy to the patient to decide on the unnecessary prolongation of the death process, in case of impossibility to cure. As a research methodology, we opted for the deductive method, of documentary, bibliographic and jurisprudential research. In the study, it was necessary to analyze the control mechanisms characteristic of biopower and biopolitics, under the bioethical bias of decisions involving the right to dignified death; then a brief comparison was made between the right to life, the dignity of the human person and the autonomy of will, especially in cases where medical and technological developments imply an unnecessary lengthening of the death process; and, at the end, the concept and some assumptions were established in the living will, a brief digression regarding comparative law and analysis of the institute in Brazil. Finally, it was argued that even in the absence of a specific federal law, the institute of the living will proves to be applicable due to the incidence of constitutional, federal, state, resolutions of the Federal Council of Medicine and Code of Medical Ethics.