Woman withdraws plea from Delhi HC to stop friend from flying for euthanasia | Latest News India - Hindustan Times
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Woman withdraws plea from Delhi HC to stop friend from flying for euthanasia

Aug 18, 2022 03:47 PM IST

Suffering from Myalgic Encephalomyelitis since 2014, the friend is supposed to travel for physician-assisted suicide to Zurich due to his current vegetative state

A 49-year-old Bengaluru-based woman on Thursday withdrew a plea which she had filed in the Delhi high court last week seeking to stop her friend from travelling to Switzerland for active euthanasia on account of his debilitating inflammatory disease.

SC permitted passive euthanasia in 2018 but active euthanasia is still illegal in India. (File image)
SC permitted passive euthanasia in 2018 but active euthanasia is still illegal in India. (File image)

Justice Yashwant Varma was informed by the petitioner’s counsel that his client was in a “dilemma” and now wishes to withdraw her petition which was filed last week.

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“I would like to withdraw this petition as I came to know that (my friend) is deeply traumatised after hearing about it. I am afraid that the very purpose of filing this writ may go in vain if I proceed,” the counsel said reading the statement from his client (petitioner).

The court allowed the woman to withdraw her petition and termed it “dismissed as withdrawn”.

Even though the Supreme Court permitted passive euthanasia in 2018, active euthanasia is still illegal in India.

Also Read:Euthanasia visit plea in Delhi HC: ‘Don’t want to trouble patient, but help him’

Active euthanasia involves a physician, who actively assists it through an injection of lethal substances to accelerate death. Passive euthanasia means withholding life-saving treatment.

In her plea, the petitioner had sought the court’s directions to the government against granting “emigration clearance” to her friend, while also seeking to stop him from flying abroad for the process of euthanasia on the ground that he allegedly gave false information for visa both in India and abroad.

The woman, who has described herself as a close friend of the patient, has pleaded that his parents, other family members and friends would suffer “irreparable loss” and “hardship” if he is not stopped from travelling.

The petition also annexes documents to show a text from the patient to the petitioner which read— “Looking at euthanasia options. Had enough”.

Suffering from Myalgic Encephalomyelitis since 2014, the friend is supposed to travel for physician-assisted suicide to Zurich due to his current vegetative state where he is bed ridden and can walk only a few steps in his house.

Myalgic Encephalomyelitis is a complex, debilitating, long-term neuro-inflammatory disease, with the most common symptom being extreme tiredness.

The plea filed through advocate Subhash Chandran KR, said that the patient was under a method of treatment called Fecal Microbiota Transplantation in AIIMS at an earlier stage but it could not be continued during the peak of the Covid-19 pandemic.

“His symptoms started in 2014 and his condition deteriorated over the past eight years. He is now completely bed ridden and just able to walk a few steps inside home.”

The plea said the deteriorating situation forced the patient to think about euthanasia through Dignitas, an organisation in Zurich, which provides physicians for assisted suicide.

According to the information received by the petitioner, his application was accepted by Dignitas, first evaluation was approved and is now awaiting the final decision by the end of August 2022,” the petition claimed.

The plea alleged that the patient earlier obtained a Schengen visa, which allows unrestricted travel to 26 European countries, by providing “false information” that he is seeking treatment at a clinic in Belgium. It further claimed that he travelled to Zurich in Switzerland in June via Belgium for the first round of psychological evaluation for euthanasia.

It said the patient does not have any financial constraints for better treatment in India or abroad but he is adamant about his decision to go for euthanasia.

The petitioner said he has given false information for the visa both in India and abroad.

The petition also sought the constitution of a medical board to examine his condition and to provide necessary assistance.

According to the petition, the patient, a resident of Noida, was a businessman in Dubai and lives with his parents, who have been taking care of him for the last eight years.

While section 309 of IPC criminalises attempted suicide, the Mental Healthcare Act Section 115(1) states that “any person who attempts to commit suicide shall be presumed, unless proved otherwise, to have severe stress and shall not be tried and punished under the said Code.”

In 2011, the Supreme Court had turned down a plea of author and activist Pinki Virani for stopping life support to Aruna Shanbaug — a nurse who spent nearly 42 years in a vegetative state after sexual assault before her death in 2015.

In March 2018, while recognising passive euthanasia, the apex court had allowed a “living will” authorising the withdrawal of life-support system for patients suffering from terminal and irreversible illnesses. It recognised a person’s right to die with dignity.

It had 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.

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