In a path-breaking verdict, the Supreme Court allowed passive euthanasia; and rejected mercy killing petition for Aruna Shanbaug.
In a nuanced judgment, the Supreme Court (SC) on Monday rejected a plea seeking mercy killing for Aruna Shanbaug, but allowed passive euthanasia — withdrawal of life support to a patient — to cut short the agony of patients in a permanent vegetative state. However, it fixed legal parameters for passive euthanasia.
Writer Pinky Virani had sought the right to die for Aruna, who has been in a vegetative state in KEM hospital for 37 years after being assaulted and sodomised by a ward boy. Dismissing her plea, a bench of justices Markandey Katju and Gyan Sudha Misra said it can’t be said that Shanbaug is dead. “It appears that she has some brain activity, though very little,’’ the SC said.
The SC said passive euthanasia would be permissible in certain cases though there’s no statutory provision in this regard. The responsibility of taking a call will be with the high courts, but the plea must be made by a select few persons close to the patient.
“The decision has to be taken either by the parents or the spouse or other close relatives, or in the absence of any of them, a person or a body of persons acting as next friend,” the bench said in its 141-page verdict. Such a decision could be taken by the doctors attending the patient. However, it should be approved by the high court finally, it said, laying out the guidelines to be followed.
In the case of nurse Aruna, the court said it was for the KEM hospital staff to take that decision. “The hospital staffers have been amazingly caring for so many long years. They really are her next friends, and not Pinky Virani. They have clearly expressed their wish that Aruna Shanbaug should be allowed to live,” the bench added.
Explaining its guidelines on persons who should take a call on passive killing, the court said it was an extremely important question in India because of the “unfortunate level” to which the ethical standards of the society has descended.
“There’s is widespread commercialisation and rampant corruption. The court has to be very cautious that unscrupulous persons do not eliminate people by unscrupulous methods to inherit property,” it said.
The judgment allowing passive euthanasia would remain in force till Parliament enacts a suitable law, the bench said. It also recommended that the Union government repeal Section 309 of the Indian Penal Code that makes attempt to suicide an offence.
The judges also appreciated Virani for her plea. “We regard her as a public spirited person who filed the petition for a cause she bona fide regarded as correct and ethical… We hold her in high esteem,” the court said.
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