Sarita Vijayakumar Eng 111-131 11.28.2011 Ms.

Kimberly Thompson

"Permission to Leave" - Euthanasia in India

Euthanasia literally means "good death" or "easy death" in Greek. It is also known as Mercy Killing. It means putting a person to painless death especially in case of incurable sufferings or when life becomes purposeless as a result of mental or physical handicap. Euthanasia is a controversial subject which has a lot of moral, ethical, and legal dilemmas. Euthanasia should be legalized because of reasons such as right to die, emotional and financial. Euthanasia can be classified as active and passive. Active euthanasia entails the use of lethal substances or forces to kill a person e.g. a lethal injection given to a person with terminal cancer who is in terrible agony. Physician Assisted Suicide is also a form of active euthanasia. Passive euthanasia entails withholding of medical treatment for continuance of life, e.g. withholding of medication without which the patient is likely to die, or removing the heart lung machine, from a patient in coma. A further categorization of euthanasia is between voluntary euthanasia and non voluntary euthanasia. Voluntary euthanasia is where the consent is taken

from the patient, whereas non voluntary euthanasia is where the consent is unavailable e.g. when the patient is in coma, or is otherwise unable to give consent.

Euthanasia is one of the most perplexing issues which the courts and legislatures all over the world are facing today. The general legal position all over the world seems to be that while active euthanasia is illegal unless there is legislation permitting it, passive euthanasia is legal even without legislation provided certain conditions and safeguards are maintained. In India active euthanasia is illegal and a crime under section 302 or at least section 304 IPC. Physician assisted suicide is a crime under section 306 IPC(Law Commission of India). However, on March 07, 2011 the Indian High court rules 'passive euthanasia' permitted under certain circumstances. The court stated that, while there is no statutory provision to support active euthanasia, where an individual dies by lethal injection, passive euthanasia through a withdrawal of life support would be permissible with approval by the high court after receiving requests from the government and close family members of the individual and getting the opinions of three respected doctors. India's supreme court rejected a plea to end the life of a woman who was brian damaged 37 years ago. Aruna Shanbaug, 60, a former nurse,

suffered brain injures during a sexual assault in 1973, leaving her in a vegetative state ever since. She has been unable to talk, move or eat on her

own for 37 years and has been looked after by the medical staff at Mumbai's King Edward Memorial Hospital (Rao) Yet another example is the suffering of my grandmother. She was a very active and social person. She was diabetic and at the age of 82 had a stroke. It made her bed ridden and almost lifeless. This once energetic and happy person was miserable. She wouldn't want to sit up and converse with people. The only time she communicated with people was when she wanted them out of the room, she would make disgruntled noises asking them to leave. A second stroke made her unable to eat, they had to put a tube down her nose to feed her. She din't want to live anymore, she was so bitter and angry all the time. It broke my heart to see a person normally full of life be dead while being alive. The first reason for it to be legalized is the patience choice or right to die. Even though life is sacred some believe that a decent death is more important. When the patient has chronic unbearable pain, his or her life becomes not worth living and the patient hopes to end it to avoid suffering. Therefore, a patient with a terminal illness should have the opportunity and the right to choose death. The most important factor determining death must be a judgment about the quality of life.

The second reason is emotional well being. This constitutes the emotional well being of both the person in need of euthanasia and his or her support system.

The third reason is financial stability. The terminally ill person might not be of stable financial background. He or she might not have the money to prolong treatment and would not want to burden his or her family with financial debts. They feel there is no point in Some members of India's medical and legal establishments believe that India isn't ready for euthanasia because of weak legal enforcement, religious and ethical issues. The 14th Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso, spiritual leader and Head of State of the Tibetan government in exile, stated the following in a 1985 letter to Asiaweek: "In the event a person is definitely going to die and he is either in great pain or has virtually become a vegetable, and prolonging his existence is only going to cause difficulties and suffering for others, the termination of his life may be permitted according to Mahayana Buddhist ethics." Prakash N. Desai in Medical Ethics, History of South and East Asia II says, " Most Indian religions accept 'willed' or 'hastened death', where they believe that it is permitted to chose the moment of death by starvation in order to avoid painfully long suffering. In the face of approaching or inevitable death or debilitating and painfully long suffering, traditional ethics provides "permission to leave" voluntarily. One of the primary reasons people oppose this practice is because they think it is essentially playing God, but again the medical and legal people are already playing God. As clinical psychologist and researcher from The Rehabilitation Centre in Ottawa, Canada, Keith G. Wilson points out, People who are against legalization are motivated primarily by religious or secular moral

concerns, which place the sanctity of human life above other considerations. Those who are in favor of legalization are more concerned about the relief of incontrollable pain and suffering, as well as with the rights of the individual to exercise choice and control.

India needs to legalize euthanasia to help people like Aruna Shanbaug and my grandmother end their suffering. Every person has the right to choose even it means the end of life.

Work Cited

Kaur, Amandeep. "Legalisation of Euthanasia in India-A Critical Analysis." Law Herald. 29 July 2009. Web. 27 Oct 2011.

Rao, Sushila. "The Moral Basis for a Right to Die." Economic & Political WEEKLY 30 Apr. 2011 :N.pag.Print.

Desai, Prakash N. "Medical Ethics, History of South and East Asia: II. India." Encyclopedia of Bioethics. Ed. Stephen G. Post. 3rd ed. Vol. 3. New 2004. 1681-1687. Gale Virtual

York: Macmillan Reference USA, Reference Library. Web. 21 Oct. 2011.

"Ethics of Euthanasia." Enotes. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Nov. 2011. India. Law Commission. 196th Report on Medical Treatment To Terminally Ill Patients : Protection Of Patients And Medical Practitioners. March 2006. Web. 30 Oct. 2011.