Revista Cubana de Salud Pública

"Cuba Salud 2015" and the challenge of financing universal health coverage

Health care needs perceived by the Cuban older adults

Community-acquired pneumonia: A risk assessment and clinical issues in hospitalized elderly patients

Sociodemographic determinants and sudden cardiovascular death

Situation of tuberculosis in the 90's in Cuba

Cultural representations about the sexual and reproductive health ideal in Ecuadorian college students

Advances and gaps in the social marketing of condoms in Havana

Factors related to rural women's preferences for the traditional midwife

"Rijcharismo" movement in the Peruvian high plateau as a pioneer intercultural health experience in the Americas

Multidimensional tool for measurement of the integration of health service networks in the primary health care

Theoretical approach to social inequalities in tuberculosis as a health problem

Legal implications for the debate on euthanasia in Cuba

En este trabajo se analiza el concepto de eutanasia, desde su evolución durante el desarrollo de la humanidad y su inserción dentro de la bioética como nuevo saber hasta arribar a la realidad cubana actual, en contraste con la práctica médica. Tiene el propósito de analizar las implicaciones jurídicas del debate sobre las conductas eutanásicas en Cuba con una perspectiva integral. Para desarrollar el trabajo se partió del estudio de tratadistas del tema en diferentes etapas del desarrollo de la humanidad, como son la posición de Hipócrates con su milenario juramento para los profesionales de la salud y la de Sartre con su culto a la libertad, y de autores mucho más modernos exponentes del mundo de la bioética. Se demuestran las necesidades epistemológicas de los sectores vinculados al tema, y se expone una propuesta conceptual para la adopción de posiciones éticas y jurídicas acerca de la eutanasia, desde el derecho y los enfoques bioéticos en Cuba, a la par que se sugieren cambios tecnológico-normativos que respaldan la posición adoptada. El trabajo precisa la transversalidad del tópico, los posibles actores del cambio que se demanda y aventura modos de hacer. El Código Penal cubano no satisface la medida del contenido infractor de las conductas eutanásicas que se analizan, requiere de una reforma que cubra el contenido valorativo de las diferentes formas de eutanasia y cumpla con el principio de legalidad, con lo que aportará en gran medida a la seguridad jurídica.

This paper analyzed the concept of euthanasia throughout the development of the mankind, its insertion into bioethics as a new piece of knowledge and its entry into the Cuban reality, in contrast to the medical practice. It was aimed at analyzing from an integrated perspective the legal consequences of the debate on euthanasia behaviors in Cuba. To this end, the paper firstly took into account the study of those who dealt with this topic in the various phases of the human development, from positions such as that of Hippocrates with his millennial oath for health professionals through that of Sartre based on the cult to liberty and those of the latest authors who are exponents of the world of bioethics. This paper demonstrated the epistemological needs of some sectors associated to this topic, and a conceptual proposal was made for the assumption of ethical and legal positions on euthanasia from the law and the bioethical approaches in Cuba. It also suggested some technological and normative changes that will support the adopted position. The paper specified the transversality of the issue, the likely actors that may involve in the demanded change, and predicted some ways of acting. The Cuban legal code does not provide a response in every sense to the breaching content of the analyzed euthanasic behaviors, that is the reason why a reform is required to cover the assessing content of the various forms of euthanasia and to comply with the principle of legality, which will contribute to a great extent to the legal security.

Closing speech at the International Convention of Public Health: "Cuba Health 2015"

Cuban public health and the foreign opinion

Scientific categorization in public health as a pressing need. Main concerns on this topic