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Bengaluru woman goes to Delhi HC to stop friend’s euthanasia trip to Europe

  • August 13, 2022
  • Posted by: OptimizeIAS Team
  • Category: DPN Topics
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Bengaluru woman goes to Delhi HC to stop friend’s euthanasia trip to Europe

Subject: Polity

Section :Constitution

Context:

  • A 49-year-old woman from Bengaluru wants the court to stop her friend, a Noida-based 48-year-old man with a debilitating health condition, from travelling to Europe allegedly to undergo assisted suicide or euthanasia — an option not available in India to a person who is not terminally ill.
  • According to the petition, the patient earlier obtained a Schengen visa, which allows unrestricted travel to 26 European countries, by providing “false information” that he is seeking treatment at a clinic in Belgium.
  • In 2011, voters in Zurich rejected Swiss plans to ban assisted suicide or outlaw it for foreigners. Many countries, including Singapore, have come under criticism for promoting “suicide tourism”.
  • In 2018, the Supreme Court had delivered a landmark ruling that made passive euthanasia legal for terminally illindividuals, allowing them to decline the use of life support measures, and letting families of those in incurable coma to withdraw such measures.
  • While Section 309 of IPC criminalisesattempted suicide, the Mental Healthcare Act Section 115(1) states that “any person who attempts to commit suicide shall be presumed, unless proved otherwise, to have severe stress and shall not be tried and punished under the said Code.”

Aruna Ramachandra Shanbaug Judgement 2011

  • Supreme court in 2011 recognised passive euthanasia in this case by which it had permitted withdrawal of life-sustaining treatment from patients not in a position to make an informed decision.
  • Subsequent to this, in a landmark judgment (2018), the Supreme Court recognised passive euthanasia and “living will”.

Living Will

  • A ‘living will’ is a concept where a patient can give consent that allows withdrawal of life support systems if the individual is reduced to a permanent vegetative state with no real chance of survival.
  • An adult with a sound and healthy mind can make a Living Will.
  • It should be voluntarily executed and based on informed consent.
  • It should be expressed in specific terms in a language “absolutely clear and unambiguous”
  • The Living Will should contain the circumstances in which medical treatment should be withheld or withdrawn.
  • It should give the name of the “guardian or close relative” who will give the go-ahead for starting the procedure of passive euthanasia.
  • It should specify that the Will can be revoked any time.
  • An individual has the right to withdraw or alter the Living Will, but only in writing.
  • So, if there are more than one Living Will, the latest one will be valid.
  • The Will shall be attested by two independent witnesses.
  • It should preferably be counter-signed by the Judicial Magistrate First Class (JMFC) who is assigned the jurisdiction by the District Court.

Rationale behind SC judgment

  • Right to Die – The Supreme Court has upheld that the fundamental right to life and dignity includes right to refuse treatment and die with dignity.
  • Dignified death – Lack of legal backing sometimes lead to suffering and undignified death of the patient.
  • Individual Liberty – The issue of death and when to die transcended the boundaries of law.
Bengaluru woman goes to Delhi HC to stop friend’s euthanasia trip to Europe Polity

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