Dever e consentimento na relação médico-paciente

Abstract

The expressive and important achievements in which medicine has surprised us and its constant improvement shows that its scientific capacity is about to achieve even greater things. But, if purely technical science does not usually gets blocked by its own difficulties, often overcoming them, a good part of its limits; deontology, ethics, bioethics, philosophy, law and even leges artis medicinae sets its boundaries. The communication between those areas, however, isn't already established with the usuality, seriousness and depth we need. Specially by this reason – but not only, of course –, we observe that the medical practice is oriented in a space that, commonly, embrace imprecise and conflicting rules, or even rules that are silent about extremely relevant issues. Apprehensive with the consequences that this quicksand terrain brings, mainly regard the understanding of guarantor’s duties that the physician may assume, and consequently, the delimitation of his criminal liability, this thesis makes efforts to start a dialogue, if not between all the previously mentioned areas, at least between criminal law and medicine, with its medical deontology, professional ethics and leges artis. Therefore, using the maximum interdisciplinarity which the objectives and restrictions of this study allows, it reviews the bibliography and discusses cases constructed based on facts or elements of reality, with the objective of identify the conduct that the medical professional, as guarantor, is legitimized to proceed when he come across a patient who does not wish to be submitted to rescue actions. In other words, this thesis seeks to clarify the related issues of the decline of a patient to receive medical treatment in cases of imminent life risk.