NEED AND RIGHT OF EUTHANASIA
PART - I
INTRODUCTION
“Euthanasia” is mainly “The practice of intentionally ending a person’s life with his own consent to relieve him or her from current pain and suffering due to some terminal illness”. Many definitions are used to describe Euthanasia, for example, the British “House of Lord’s Select Committee” describes euthanasia as-
“A deliberate intervention was undertaken with the express intention of ending a life, to relieve intractable sufferings”.
To understand what Euthanasia actually is, we need to look into the various types of euthanasia that exist. We will discuss briefly in this research paper. Euthanasia is basically of five types namely-
· “Active euthanasia”
· “Passive euthanasia”
· “Voluntary euthanasia”
· “Involuntary euthanasia”
· “Non-voluntary euthanasia”
Making Euthanasia legal still is a questionable thought for many countries including India, which can be seen in the fact that India has no specific provisions for euthanasia, neither in legislations nor in laws. Still in cases like Aruna Ramchandra Shanbaug v. Union of India and Ors. 2011 the Supreme court allowed passive euthanasia in India. Euthanasia has frequently been a term for conflict. People often confuse euthanasia with suicide, though both are two different sides of the same coin.
In both the cases the person willingly ends his life. Euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide both refers to “A deliberate action is taken with the intention of ending a life, in order to relieve persistent sufferings”, doctors herein inject him with lethal doses of medicines or switch of his life-supporting system.[1] The distinction between euthanasia and suicide was vividly presented by “The Bombay High Court” in the case of “Maruty Shripati Dubai v. State of Maharashtra” whereby it was stated:-
“suicide is an act of self-killing without any assistance from the other person but in euthanasia intervention of some other person is required to end his life”
Mercy killing or euthanasia cannot be said similar to suicide. The court further stated-
“Euthanasia or mercy killing is nothing but homicide (“the illegal killing of one person by another; murder”); The Penal Code of India punishes not only abatement of homicide but also abatement of suicide.”
In the Indian Constitution the laws related to assisted suicide are clear in stating that suicide is a punishable offence under sections 305,306,309 of the Indian Penal Code,1860 which are stated as follows –
Abatement of suicide of child or an insane person, abatement of suicide, an attempt to commit suicide respectively. This research paper will further try to find in the loopholes (if any) among the laws relating to euthanasia and its legalization in India.
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[1] Yvette Brazier, what are euthanasia and assisted suicide? (2018), https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/182951 (last visited 2020).
AUTHOR DETAILS:
NAME- GURMEHAR RANDHAWA
COLLEGE- SYMBIOSIS LAW SCHOOL, HYDERABAD
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