The living will as an early directive of the will: a reflection on the dignity of death

Abstract

This article is related to the verification of the possibility of applying the Advance Directive (DAV), popularly known as Living Testament in the legal system. In this sense, the study seeks to reflect on the dignity of death, as well as to explain about the procedures at the end of life and thus, verify the possibility of using the guidelines of the advance form of will in the Living Will format. The method adopted for the article stems from an extensive bibliographical review of doctrines, legislation and scientific articles, with the research of a qualitative nature using the deductive method based on the assumption that the living will, although it does not have specific legal rules, must be recognized, in view of the reality of the application of infraconstitutional laws and observed resolutions of the Federal Council of Medicine (CFM) that supports and ensures the application of the Living Will in situations of terminality of life. For these reasons, it is concluded that it is possible to apply the Advance Will Directive (DAV) Living Will in the legal system supported by the integrative interpretation of existing constitutional and infraconstitutional norms based on the constitutional principles of the dignity of the human person (art. 1, III) and autonomy (principle implicit in art. 5), as well as the prohibition of inhumane treatment (art. 5, III).