The right to palliative care as one of the somatic human rights

Abstract

The article provides a comprehensive understanding of the right to palliative care as one of the somatic human rights, the legal status of a person receiving such care is investigated. Somatic (etymologically derived from the Greek word «soma» - «body») human rights are characterized as the rights of the fourth generation, related to the ability of a person to independently implement voluntary acts aimed at managing own body and/or its biological components (tissues, organs ). Normative and legal regulation of the right to palliative care as one of the somatic human rights includes the norms of the Constitution of Ukraine, international legislation, current laws and by-laws of Ukraine, as well as judicial practice. It is noted that the study of the legal regulation of the right to palliative care as one of the somatic rights of a person is closely related to the problem of the structure of the legal status of this person. The rights of persons suffering from incurable and similar diseases and to whom palliative care is provided are classified into positive and negative, in accordance with the spheres of implementation, into civil (personal), political, economic, social (in the narrow sense of this word), cultural and ecological and others. Arguments are presented in favor of attributing the right to palliative care to somatic human rights. The prospect of further research in the field of normative and legal regulation of the right to palliative care as one of the somatic human rights is offered.