What is ‘living will ’?
The ‘living will’ is a person’s right to issue advance directive on the course of his/her treatment, including withdrawal of life support, should such a situation arise.
PIL filed by NGO Common Cause in 2005 seeking robust system of certification for passive euthanasia and legal recognition for ‘living will’ in India.
In Aruna Shanbaug Case, a nurse working at the KEM Hospital in Mumbai was sexually assaulted by a worker in 1973. During the attack, Shanbaug was strangled with chain, and the deprivation of oxygen left her in a vegetative state. She was treated at KEM following the incident and was kept alive by a feeding tube for 48 years, until her death of pneumonia in 2015. In 2015, Pinki Virani filed a petition in Supreme Court of India on behalf of Aruna Shanbaug, she argued that the “continued existence of Aruna is in violation of her right to live in dignity.” On 7th March 2011, the Supreme Court made its decision, in which it issued a set of broad guidelines legalizing passive euthanasia in India. These guidelines for passive euthanasia- the decision to withdraw treatment, nutrition, or water- establish that the decision to withdraw treatment, nutrition or water- establish that the decision to discontinue life support must be taken by parents, spouse or other close relatives, or in the absence of them, by a “next friend”. This decision requires approval from the concerned High Court.
In the Case of Hyderabad City, there was one young girl named Harshita who wanted euthanasia, while undergoing a treatment at CARE Hospital, Banjara Hills and still waits for a liver so that transplantation can be done. On July 14, her parents approached the State Humans Rights Commission with a petition seeking intervention in his daughter case. Harhita is suffering from jaundice and doctors had informed her parents that she required a liver transplantation. N Ramachandra Reddy had then said his daughter would not live beyond a week without treatment and her mother N Shyama requested authorities to give them permission to kill the girl since they could not afford the cost of transplantation.
Aishwarya Says:
I have always been against Glorifying Over Work and therefore, in the year 2021, I have decided to launch this campaign “Balancing Life”and talk about this wrong practice, that we have been following since last few years. I will be talking to and interviewing around 1 lakh people in the coming 2021 and publish their interview regarding their opinion on glamourising Over Work.
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