info:eu-repo/semantics/bookPart Lukić-Šarkanović, Mirka Pavlović, Zoran Vico Katanić, Nina eng application/pdf 1677688 bytes 2025 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode Between life and death Abstract: The right to life is a fundamental human right from which all other human rights derive, especially the right to health, as a crucial part. This right is defined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, adopted by the General Assembly of the United Nations in 1948, as well as in the Eu-ropean Convention on Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, adopted by the Council of Europe in 1950. It implies that the right to life is protected by law and that no one may be intentionally deprived of it, not even those suffering from incurable illnesses enduring severe pain when death is in-evitable, especially if they no longer wish or are unable to bear their suf-fering. The question arises, how to treat such patients, those at the very end of life, experiencing intense pain and suffering. The development of palliative care and sedation, whose primary goal is to ease the suffering and pain of the patient, in the last weeks and days of his life, without the intention of affecting the end of life and increasing accessibility to an ever-widening circle of patients, significantly enhances the quality of life for those who are seriously ill, as well as for their fami-lies. There are numerous ethical dilemmas and legal questions faced daily by medical professionals in this highly delicate area of life and death – an area almost always surrounded by controversy, fear, and the potential for abuse. Keywords: palliative care, terminal sedation, medical ethics, ethical dilemmas, ethical controversies, euthanasia. Belgrade : Institute of Criminological and Sociological Research ; Novi Sad : Bar Association of Vojvodina : Branch of SASA https://unilib.phaidrabg.rs/o:9992 doi:10.47152/ns2025 cobiss:176548105 ISBN: 978-86-80756-70-7 978-86-905844-4-4978-86-6032-006-5 The right to health startpage: 503 endpage: 515