Abstract/Summary

This study aims to answer whether or not the right to life as enshrined in the
Philippine Constitution includes the right to die. Senate Bill 1483 provides for
that right. This proposed legislation on the 15th say of July 2010 by Senator
Miriam Santiago, if enacted to law, would be named as the natural Death Act.
This bill provides for the right of the of the patient to decide his/her own health
care by issuing a directive in a terminal or permanent unconscious condition to
withhold life-sustaining treatment. The right to die or the right to put an end to
one's life mentioned in the study does not necessarily mean that the patient
wants to die. It just means revocation of life-sustaining treatment, and that the
direct consequence of this action would almost always lead to death, in the
absence of supernatural circumstances such as miracles, newfound discovery, et
cetera. This study aims to primarily determine the constitutionality of Senate
Bill 1483 by gathering and analyzing Article III, Section 1 of the 1987
Constitution, Article 253 of the Revised Penal Code, Article 6, Section 1 of the
International Covenant of Civil and Political Rights, and related studies relating
to those aforementioned, and Political Rights, and related studies relating to
those aforementioned, and with Euthanasia, otherwise known as ˜mercy
killing".