Mumbai: 'Mechanisms needed to invoke living will'

Bombay High Court. File Pic

The doctor who approached the court to defend a patient's right to die with dignity by creating a legal document termed a 'living will' is now amending his petition to include the Union Health Ministry and the National Medical Commission as respondents.

There was a hearing in the Bombay High Court on Thursday, three months after the urban development department appointed 417 custodians for the safekeeping of such living wills. During the hearing, the petitioners highlighted the lack of awareness activities on the part of the state government. Furthermore, the petitioners flagged the need to set up mechanisms that will allow citizens to invoke their living wills in times of need.

A living will is a document created by a person in the event they become incapacitated and unable to express the course of their medical treatment. The document describes the choice of medical treatment the person wishes to receive. It also expresses their desire to choose death with dignity and not be subjected to invasive treatments in case they become terminally ill.

"The mere appointment of a custodian is not enough. Other mechanisms for retrieval of the living will are missing. There is no office of custodian either, and there are no norms set in the event a custodian retires. Moreover, there is no board of doctors and government representatives appointed to approve the course of action in the event someone's living will comes into effect," said city-based gynaecologist Dr Nikhil Dattar, the petitioner in the case.

He added, "The National Medical Commission will now be added to the petition because the code of medical ethics as it stands today does not allow for any kind of euthanasia. So, if we are to ask doctors to form an opinion for something which is prima facie considered unethical, then it is again a loophole."

The Union Health Ministry will be added for the want of digitisation of medical records, which can be accessed from any part of the country at the appropriate time. "We have been provided seven days to amend the petition," Dr Datar said.