COMPULSORY HOSPITALIZATION FOR CHEMICAL DEPENDENCE AND THE AUTONOMY OF THE PATIENT’S WILL

Abstract

The theme of the work has as its central issue the study of compulsory hospitalization of drug addicts and interference with individual freedoms to choose the best treatment, in accordance with the pillars defended in the Federal Constitution of 1988. This study was guided by a general objective in verify which hermeneutical criteria are applicable in the face of a conflict of fundamental rights and guarantees in the case of compulsory hospitalization due to chemical dependency, where, on the one hand, the right to life of the patient can be observed who, in a situation of chemical dependency, seeks a dignified life, and on the other, the patient's right to freedom and autonomy of will to decide his or her hospitalization. The theoretical approach method is deductive, using doctrinal, legal and jurisprudential bases. Among the results achieved, the measure of compulsory hospitalization cannot be used as an acceptable justification for the suppression of fundamental rights. It is concluded, then, that in the case of compulsory hospitalization as a treatment for chemical dependency, such a measure may be in conflict with the fundamental principles of the right to life, patient freedom and human dignity, and must prevail the right that best serves the drug addict given the incidence of consideration, the fundamental right to life.