'Euthanasia: A dignified death?'

Members of Mahaprasthana Medi-Ethics Foundation, a group working towards the promotion of voluntary euthanasia, met on Saturday to discuss the legalisation of living wills.

Members of Mahaprasthana Medi-Ethics Foundation, a group working towards the promotion of voluntary euthanasia, met on Saturday to discuss the legalisation of living wills.

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About three years ago, the Supreme Court admitted their petition seeking legalisation of living wills. The matter is yet to be posted for hearing. The theme of the meeting was -Can we afford another Aruna Shanbaug?

Shanbaug, a former nurse at KEM Hospital, has been lying in a vegetative state since 1973 after sweeper sexually assaulted her.

"It is important to talk about living with dignity. Is this the kind of life the society wants to promote?" said RN Bhaskar, secretary of Mahaprasthana Medi-Ethics Foundation. "When people are so sick that they cannot even have a bath, that is loss of dignity," said Dr Nagraj Huilgol, chief radiation oncologist, Dr Balabhai Nanavati Hospital, & president of the foundation.