In a landmark judgment, the Supreme Court today allowed the ‘living will’ made by terminally-ill patients for passive euthanasia. A five-judge constitution bench headed by Chief Justice Dipak Misra on a petition seeking recognition of the ‘living will’, allowed passive euthanasia for patients with terminal-illness, with guidelines and procedures.
The bench, comprising justices A K Sikri, A M Khanwilkar, D Y Chandrachud and Ashok Bhushan also laid down guidelines as to who would execute the will and how the nod for passive euthanasia would be granted by the medical board.
The top court said that directions and guidelines laid down by it and its directive shall remain in force till a legislation is brought on the issue. The ‘living will’ is a concept where a man or woman decides in much advance whether he or she wants to be kept on life support or vegetative condition, in case of a terminal illness.
The CJI, while reading out the judgment, said that all the judges were unanimous that the ‘living will’ should be permitted since a person cannot be allowed to continue suffering in a comatose state when he or she doesn’t wish to live.
Senior Supreme Court lawyer, Prashant Bhushan, appearing for the NGO, Common Cause, which had filed the PIL, had earlier submitted to the Apex Court that since a patient under coma or vegetative conditions could not express his/her wish, so he should be given the right to die.
