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Health & Medicine, World Affairs
Mahesh

17/09/22 11:51 AM IST

Assisted Suicide

In News 
  • Jean-Luc Godard, one of the legends of French New Wave cinema, died earlier this week by assisted suicide at the age of 91.
  • Godard had recourse to legal assistance in Switzerland for a voluntary departure as he was stricken with multiple invalidating illnesses, according to the medical report”.
Assisted Suicide 
  • Assisted suicide is allowed by Swiss law under certain conditions. Physicians and organisations are allowed to provide assistance to suicide within the framework of the law and under the medical codes of ethics, as per Le Monde, as long as there are no ‘selfish motives’.
  • Several European nations, some states in Australia and Colombia in South America allow assisted suicide and euthanasia under certain circumstances. 
Euthanasia
  • The term “euthanasia” is derived from Greek, literally meaning “good death”.
  • Taken in its common usage, however, euthanasia refers to the termination of a person’s life, to end their suffering, usually from an incurable or terminal condition.
  • It is for this reason that euthanasia was also coined the name “mercy killing”.
  • Euthanasia can further be divided into active and passive.
  • The practice of passive euthanasia involves simply stopping lifesaving treatment or medical intervention with the consent of the patient or a family member or a close friend representing the patient.
  • Active euthanasia, which is legal in only a few countries, entails the use of substances to end the life of the patient.
India's stance 
  • In a landmark judgment, the Supreme Court of India legalised passive euthanasia in 2018, stating that it was a matter of ‘living will’.
  • According to the judgment, an adult in his conscious mind is permitted to refuse medical treatment or voluntarily decide not to take medical treatment to embrace death in a natural way, under certain conditions.
  • In the 538-page judgment, the court laid down a set of guidelines for ‘living will’ and defined passive euthanasia and euthanasia as well.
  • It also laid down guidelines for ‘living will’ made by terminally ill patients who beforehand know about their chances of slipping into a permanent vegetative state.
  • The court specifically stated that the rights of a patient, in such cases, would not fall out of the purview of Article 21 (right to life and liberty) of the Indian Constitution.
Source- Indian Express 

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