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Context:
- The Supreme Court has upheld passive euthanasia and the right to give advance medical directives or ‘Living Wills’ to smoothen the dying process as part of the fundamental right to live with dignity.
More in news:
- A five-judge Constitution Bench, led by Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra has recently ruled that the fundamental right to life and dignity under Article 21 of the Constitution includes the “right to die with dignity.”
- Dignity is lost if a man is allowed or forced to undergo pain and suffering because of “unwarranted medical support.”
- Justice D.Y. Chandrachud observed that “to deprive a person of dignity at the end of life is to deprive him of a meaningful existence.”
- “Meaningful existence” includes a person’s right to self-determination and autonomy to decide his medical treatment, the court held.
- Justice Ashok Bhushan observed that right to a dignified life includes a “dignified procedure of death.”
Passive euthanasia:
- Passive euthanasia is the act of withdrawing or withholding medical support to a dying patient who has no hope for revival or cure.
Passive euthanasia is different from suicide and active euthanasia:
- The Supreme Court had differentiated passive euthanasia from suicide and active euthanasia.
- It called passive euthanasia as a “mere acceleration of the inevitable conclusion.”
- Active euthanasia, the court concluded, is unlawful.
- Suicide involves “overt acts” which culminates in an unnatural death.
