Euthanasia makes a quiet debut in India in the form of Indian Society for the Right to Die

Kumar: Prompted by compassionBack in the first century B.C., the Greeks coined a new phrase - euthanasia derived fromthanatos, the Greek word for death. Euthanasia literally meant 'good or painless death,' or, to use a more modern-day phrase, mercy killing.In the Greek scheme of things, much like Hitler's subsequent conception of a master race, the old and the infirm were considered a burden on society. To eliminate them without undue humiliation, they were invited to an annual festival where they were given a pleasant-tasting wine which contained a lethal dose of poison, resulting in a quick and painless death.With the advance of civilisation and the preponderance of religious and social taboos, euthanasia gradually faded out of existence till the mid-'70s when it returned with a resounding crash in the wake of the Karen-Ann Quinlan case. Karen-Ann, victim of a rare and painful disease, had lain in coma for months on end, surviving only with the help of a machine. Her parents, unable to bear the sight of her suffering, begged the doctors keeping her hovering on the edge of dubious survival, to pull the plug connecting the machine and let their daughter die. Their refusal sparked off an international controversy regarding the right of an individual to die.Revived Controversy: The euthanasia controversy, dormant for some years after that, surfaced again recently with the publication of a pamphlet by EXIT, a British organisation that advocates euthanasia for patients stricken with incurable diseases and destined to spend the rest of their lives in agony. The pamphlet detailed methods of inducing a quick and painless death and created a storm in Britain and elsewhere.So far, however, euthanasia has remained an esoteric ideal restricted to the West, mainly the US, Britain, Holland and Western Europe where societies propagating the right of an individual to die have sprung up. Till last fortnight, when it made a quiet and unceremonious debut in India in the form of the Indian Society for the Right to Die, a newly-formed group of doctors, lawyers, educationists, members of Parliament and civil servants who are opposed to the "futile prolongation of dying".The society is the brainchild of a New-Delhi advocate, S. Kumar, who was inspired by the prolonged suffering of an acquaintance who had been in a coma for seven long and agonising years. "The man had no hope of recovery and it was just a question of prolonging his agony," says Kumar. Deeply affected by the suffering he had witnessed and the futility of it, Kumar then approached a few individuals who he thought would react favourably to his plans for starting a society for the right to die.Encouraging Response: He dispatched hundreds of letters to prominent people in various fields and, encouraged by the response, the society was born last fortnight with Kumar as president and K. Srinivasan, former member of the Central Board of Direct Taxes as vice-president. Among the founder members and advisory committee are the former chief of air staff, Air Chief Marshal Arjan Singh and Dhuleshwar, a Rajya Sabha MP. The only negative reply to Kumar's letters was from film star Sunil Dutt, whose wife Nargis had just died after a prolonged period of illness. In his brief reply to Kumar's appeal, Dutt stated that he appreciated the concept behind the society but could not agree with its views.Though Dutt's reaction was based largely on his religious upbringing, that is precisely the basic objective of the society. Aware of the powerful religious and social barriers inherent in the Indian social structure, the Indian Society for the Right to Die is keen to initiate a dialogue on the subject. "Euthanasia is a debatable issue and the first objective is to promote a national debate on the subject to cultivate public opinion," says Kumar.But that is easier said than done. Euthanasia is not just a moral or medical issue in the Indian context. Its ramifications are far more complex and intertwined. Apart from the religious and social resistance it will inevitably collide with, the death of an individual, particularly the head of a family, involves complex issues such as divisions of property and inheritance. As such, euthanasia could become a cause celebre in the law courts and in Parliament should the movement gain ground.Determined:.Undaunted by the obvious challenges, the society is determined to press on with its crusade. "The principal actors in the drama would be the physicians followed by the clergy who will have to be persuaded to change their traditional Hindu ideas about death, and lawyers who would be directly involved in the legal ramifications," says Kumar. The ultimate target would be to eventually pressurise the Government into introducing a clause in the statute books regarding the right of an individual to die.The society is quick to point out that they are only espousing the cause of patients who are incurable or those who are terminally ill with no hope of recovery. Society spokesmen also insist that if euthanasia becomes law, the decision to take a life will be exclusively taken by top-notch doctors and with the permission of the patient's family. But that is looking too far into the future. For now, the society is only interested in raising public consciousness regarding the issue by organising seminars and conferences involving prominent people. "Once that objective is achieved, we can start working on the next stage," says Kumar.To arm itself adequately for the coming battle, the society is busy collecting statistics about extreme cases of suffering by writing to hospitals asking for case histories of such patients. The society is also at pains to insist that it believes in passive euthanasia, which advocates the withdrawal of treatment from a patient as opposed to active euthanasia which believes in actually helping incurable patients to die. At its most basic level, what the society is propagating is the right of an individual to die with dignity. But the controversy it is almost certain to trigger off when the campaign gets off the ground, is equally certain to be an undignified one.Published By: AtMigration Published On: Oct 28, 2013 09:47 IST--- ENDS ---

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Euthanasia makes a quiet debut in India in the form of Indian Society for the Right to Die

The euthanasia controversy, dormant for some years after that, surfaced again recently with the publication of a pamphlet by EXIT, a British organisation that advocates euthanasia for patients stricken with incurable diseases and destined to spend the rest of their lives in agony.

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