A critique of the concept of orthothanasia

Abstract

This article proposes a critical analysis of the concept of orthothanasia, as employed in the normative bioethical debate in Latin America, especially in the context of the resolutions of the Federal Council of Medicine of Brazil. It is argued that, despite orthothanasia having played a historically relevant role in legitimizing the voluntary suspension of futile treatments, as well as in valuing palliative care, the concept is theoretically problematic and normatively insufficient to underpin an ethics of care at the end of life. To carry out this argument, a conceptual analysis of orthothanasia is first conducted, in which its central elements are explicitly stated, especially the idea of "correct death" as a natural death proposed by the approach, as well as a normative analysis of the values employed as justification for orthothanasia. In the second moment, a critique of this practice is conducted, aiming to show its incompatibility with the idea of a Secular State, its confusion between facts and norms, its conceptual imprecision, its undesirable normative implications, and, finally, how the values adopted as justification for the practice also allow the ethical justification of medically assisted death procedures.