Medical experts hail 'landmark judgment'

The Supreme Court judgment on Friday, allowing a person suffering from terminal illness to refuse medical treatment to avoid "protracted physical suffering" drove a wedge between the scientific and religious domains.

Dr Shivkumar Utture, a member of the Indian Medical Association (IMA) member and president of the Maharashtra Medical Council, hailed the ruling. "After this verdict, euthanasia and living will cannot be misused as there will be strict guidelines," he said. "Just as every person has the right to life, s/he also has the right to die with dignity," noted doctor and Padma Shri receipient Dr K K Aggarwal, who is also president of the Heart Care Foundation. "It is inhuman to force them to live on life support. Not only is it a torture for the person and the family, but also increases the cost of stay at the hospitalThus this decision needs to be applauded."

BJP MP Vinay Sahsrabuddhe said the SC decision is in sync with the changing realities of society.

However, the decision has not been welcomed in some quarters. Senior Christian priests in Kerala dubbed the judgment as "unfortunate and condemnable", expressing the possibility of misuse.

Kerala Catholic Bishop Conference president Archbishop Soosa Paikam said the verdict was "painful" and would have disastrous consequences. "The right of life is in the hands of God," he said. "It was not acceptable for anyone, who believes in humanity, to kill a person suffering from old age or sickness due to sympathy."

He says the order could be misused. "People suffering from old-age and sickness should be cared for and protected to allow them a natural death," he said.

In Kochi, a senior priest of the Syro-Malabar Catholic Church said legal recognition of 'living will' made by terminally-ill patients for passive euthanasia is against the Indian culture. Father Paul Thelakkat, editor of the church-run Sathyadeepam magazine, said the church apprehends that the verdict could be misused as a right of dignified killing of terminally ill patients. "The ultimate aim of medical science is to save life from death. If we move away from this principle, there would be far-reaching repercussions in our society," he said.

Thelakkat, who was also a former spokesperson for the Syro-Malabar Church, claimed that such laws were being widely misused in some developed countries, where doctors used it as a "tool to eliminate people". "I apprehend such a situation here also. All people have the right to lead a dignified natural life and to have a dignified natural death," he said.

Dr Nagraj Huilgol, a noted radiation oncologist and president of the Society for the Right to Die with Dignity said that the living will was a paradigm shift that restored an individual's autonomy for decision-making.

Noted orthopaedic specialist and vice-president of the Stem Cell Society of India, Dr BS Rajput, said, "The latest advancements of medical science, such as stem cell therapy, should also be tried as a last measure to give patients quality of life."