: The Punjab and Haryana high court has ruled that short duration of marriage is no ground to deny organ transplant between a couple.
The high court bench of justice Raj Mohan Singh said that authorities could not show any such bar under the rules that a newly wedded wife cannot donate one of her kidneys to her ailing husband.
The respondents have not pointed any foul play at the behest of donor or done in order to circumvent any provision of law or for any extraneous consideration or commercial transaction between the parties in any manner, the bench added.
“..the duration of marriage is not a ground to discard the willingness of one of the spouse, to donate kidney in favour of other spouse, particularly when the case of the petitioner has been verified on all legal parameters. Marriage has already been registered with the Marriage Registrar and a marriage certificate has been duly issued in favour of the couple,” the bench of justice Raj Mohan Singh observed.
The Jalandhar-based Sikh couple got married on December 12, 2021. After the marriage, the health of the husband started deteriorating and he was diagnosed to be suffering failure of both the kidneys. He was advised to undergo kidney transplantation by a Jalandhar hospital.
The hospital constituted a committee, comprising four members for the purpose of authorisation of kidney transplantation between near relatives. Their case was placed before the committee but it rejected the same on the ground of short duration of marriage. In March, the wife approached the high court seeking directions to the hospital and authorities to allow organ transplant.
{{/usCountry}}The hospital constituted a committee, comprising four members for the purpose of authorisation of kidney transplantation between near relatives. Their case was placed before the committee but it rejected the same on the ground of short duration of marriage. In March, the wife approached the high court seeking directions to the hospital and authorities to allow organ transplant.
{{/usCountry}}It came before the court that the condition of the husband is very serious, who is already on dialysis on day to day basis. The wife came forward to donate one of her kidneys. They were subjected to all necessary medical tests. The woman was found fit enough to donate the kidney. The woman was also subjected to physical as well as mental state of health and counselling was conducted by a psychiatrist to verify her mental health. The woman had also undertaken that with one kidney she may lead normal and healthy life in view of reports and hence decided to save life of the husband.
It also came to fore that the identity and consent of the petitioner as required under rule 22 of the Transplantation of Human Organs Rules, 2014 have already been verified by the respondents. No other consent of any parents or siblings of donor is required to be obtained. Police verification in the present case had also shown that there is no element of greed or any kind of pressure being exerted upon the woman to donate her kidney.
The court observed that every care/caution has to be taken to prevent exploitation of any kind in organ transplant cases.
“Petitioner is legally wedded wife of the recipient. There is no material on record to indicate any malpractice or any element of greed or pressure being exerted upon the petitioner. The condition of husband of the petitioner is very serious,” the court observed, adding that the committee has only rejected the case due to short duration of marriage.
But there is no disqualification attached to the petitioner for donating one of her kidneys to her husband, who is in dire need of the same. There is no legal bar to the aforesaid course, the court said, disposing of the plea with a direction that the competent authority will conclusively decide the application and allow transplantation of the same at the earliest, keeping in view the medical state of health of the husband.