ME BEFORE YOU - A NOVEL: perspective of physician assisted suicide from the literature

Abstract

Physician assisted suicide is the institute in which the patient, intentionally, with unbearable suffering as a result of a terminal illness with no prospect of improvement, puts an end to his life, with the patient himself who performs the act resulting from the death, with medical help. This institute can be found in literary works, which bring important everyday issues in their script, helping people to reflect on topics such as the one discussed in the present work and opening space for legal discussions. That said, the problem of this research: how can the literary narrative Me before You: a Novel present reflections on physician assisted suicide and its perspectives in the Brazilian legal scenario? Objective: examine physician assisted suicide using the literary scenario exposed in Me before You: a Novel, with references to England and Switzerland, countries where the plot takes place, and about the treatment given to the institute by the Brazilian legal order. This is a bibliographic research, classified as qualitative and descriptive, showing how physician assisted suicide is seen in the legal order and exposed in the literary work presented. It is important to delve deeper into the matter, taking into account that wishes to physician assisted suicide in many countries are being increasingly reported. Likewise, make the connection between law and literature, more specifically law in literature, an area of research that has been highlighted in Brazil. physician assisted suicide is theme present in the thoughts of people who imagine themselves facing unbearable pain and suffering resulting from an incurable disease. These patients consider that their life is no longer worth living under such conditions. Me before You, by Jojo Moyes, tells the case of a young British man who experiences this situation, as well as reports the feelings of the people around him. As in the work studied, newspapers expose the reality of people with the same intention, but no news has the power that literature has to influence the individual reflection of each one about experiencing the reality of the other. The study of this novel presents the theme of both the option for assisted suicide and the refusal of the patient's relatives to accept their decision, which can contribute to the reflection on the institute.