EUTHANASIA (Syllabus: GS Paper 2 – Health/Govt Policies)
Context: The Supreme Court refused to grant an aged couple’s plea to allow “passive euthanasia” for their 30-year-old son, who has been lying comatose at home for 11 years after a fall from the fourth floor of a building.
Euthanasia
- About: Euthanasia refers to the practice of intentionally ending a person's life to relieve suffering or pain.
- Types:
o Active Euthanasia: Involves a deliberate intervention to end a person's life using lethal substances or external force.
ü Examples include administering a lethal injection or medication with the intention of causing death.
ü Illegal in India.
o Passive Euthanasia: Involves withdrawing life support or medical treatment necessary to keep a terminally ill person alive.
ü It includes withholding essential treatment like antibiotics or disconnecting life-supporting equipment such as ventilators.
ü Legal in India.
- Living Will: It is a legal document that outlines an individual's medical treatment preferences in case they become unable to communicate.
- Different Countries with Euthanasia: Netherlands, Luxembourg, and Belgium allow both euthanasia and assisted suicide under certain conditions.
o Switzerland bans euthanasia but allows assisted dying in the presence of a doctor or physician.
o United Kingdom considers it illegal and equivalent to manslaughter.
Supreme Court judgement
- Common Cause vs Union of India (2018): The Supreme Court reaffirmed that the right to die with dignity, including passive euthanasia based on a 'living will,' is a fundamental right under Article 21.
- Aruna Shanbaug versus Union of India: Court allowed passive euthanasia in certain situations, making a distinction between active and passive forms.
