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India's top court says passive euthanasia is permissible

Keerthi Mohan
By Keerthi MohanMar 09, 2018
Keerthi Mohan
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Right to die with dignity is a fundamental right, India's Supreme Court has said.

In a landmark judgement, the court on Friday gave legal sanction to passive euthanasia and has issued detailed guidelines in this regard.

Reading out the judgement, the Chief Justice of India said the judges were unanimous that the living will should be permitted as a person cannot be allowed to continue suffering in coma when he or she does not wish to live.

The ruling comes from a petition filed by an NGO seeking direction for recognition of 'living will.' In its petition, the NGO contended that a person should be given the right to refuse being put on life support if a medical expert says the person has reached a point of no return.

"How can a person be told that he/she does not have right to prevent torture on his body? Right to life includes right to die with dignity. A person cannot be forced to live on support of ventilator. Keeping a patient alive by artificial means against his/her wishes is an assault on his/her body," the petition said.

In 2011, the Supreme Court had recognised passive euthanasia in Aruna Shanbaug case.

Shanbaug was a nurse at the KEM Hospital in Maharashtra who lay like a vegetable for 42 years after being sexually assaulted by a ward boy.
Shanbaug was raped on November 27, 1973 while she was changing her clothes after work. She was tied down with a dog chain around her neck while she was assaulted and by next morning the chain had cut off oxygen supply to her brain.
She lived in a comatose state for the next four decades and she was cared for by her colleagues at KEM Hospital. They took such good care of Shanbaug that she had not developed even a single bed sore in the 40 years she was at the hospital.
In 2009, activist Pinki Virani petitioned the Supreme Court for passive euthanasia for Shanbaug, however, the nurses at the hospital refused to let her die. Although Virani's plea was turned down by the court, it said the hospital can withdraw life support if they changed their mind.

Shanbaug finally passed away on May 15, 2015 from pneumonia.

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