Probing Key Concepts of Medically Assisted Death. Analyzing the Portuguese Constitutional Court's Rulings

Luis Cordeiro-Rodrigues; Christopher Simon Wareham; Joao Cruz Ribeiro

doi:10.4067/S1726-569X2025000100089

Probing Key Concepts of Medically Assisted Death. Analyzing the Portuguese Constitutional Court's Rulings

Luis Cordeiro-Rodrigues, Christopher Simon Wareham, Joao Cruz Ribeiro

OFR - Ethics Institute

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › Academic › peer-review

Abstract

From 2021, the Portuguese parliament tried to get four versions of a law on medically assisted death approved. Two were rejected by the Portuguese Constitutional Court (PCC) because they were unconstitutional, and the President politically vetoed another. Finally, the parliament passed the law in 2023, even though the President and the PCC seem to oppose it. In this article, we analyze the PCC's rulings on the medically assisted death law and contend that, broadly speaking, the PCC's decisions to reject the law were justified. We focus on two core questions that have been critical in this debate: the meaning of 'suffering' and of 'permanent injury of extreme gravity'. Further, we point to possible directions whereby the legislators may revise the law and thus solve the problems raised by the PCC.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	89-100
Number of pages	12
Journal	Acta Bioethica
Volume	31
Issue number	1
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.4067/S1726-569X2025000100089
Publication status	Published - Jun 2025

Funding

Funders	Funder number
Hunan University's Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities
Yuelu Academy Subject Construction Fund Support
FCT - Fundacao para a Ciencia e Tecnologia	UI/BD/152234/2021
Not added	531118010426

Keywords

Medically assisted death
Permanent injury
Portuguese constitutional court
Unbearable suffering
Vagueness and the law

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10.4067/S1726-569X2025000100089Licence: CC BY

1726-569X-abioeth-31-01-89Final published version, 833 KBLicence: CC BY

Cite this

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Probing Key Concepts of Medically Assisted Death. Analyzing the Portuguese Constitutional Court's Rulings

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