Constructing a Right to Palliative Care: The Inter-American Convention on the Rights of Older Persons

Abstract

Since its conception nearly ten years ago, efforts to reach a universally acceptable definition of a ‘right to palliate care’ have been largely unsuccessful, mainly since the debate so far has been substantially on an abstract philosophical/legal level rather than arising out of the real experience of terminally ill people struggling to achieve rights and addressing their immediate needs. As an alternative to the problem of achieving a philosophical/legal definition of a right to palliative care, this work elaborates a strategy of constructing a right to palliative care through the interpretation of how a right to administer palliative medicines is embodied in current soft and hard law instruments. To illustrate how this may be done, the Inter-American Convention on the Rights of Older Persons (ICROP) is used as a case study. An analysis of the ICROP reveals the extent to which it embodies values associated with a right to palliative care: fundamental rights and freedoms that recognize human dignity; encompassing traditional health rights; the right to live a dignified existence; positive rights. The increasing experience people gain with the complex issues arising out of a right to health care conceived as affordable and comprehensive for everyone could generate further texts explicitly referring to a right to administer palliative medicines. Analysis of such texts may reveal that, in time, everyone does indeed have a right to care, including palliative care.