The question of legalizing euthanasia crops up time and again. Whenever public comes to know of the situations mentioned in the above news item, some limited debate does take place and inevitably such debates do die down as fresh issues arise. While some countries and some states of certain countries appear to have debated and made certain legal provisions, most countries remain largely insensitive to the issue. In countries like India where human life (except those of politicians, film personalities and cricketers) is least cared for, the apathy of the government and judiciary does not come as any surprise.
This issue can be viewed from two different angles. The first one is when the person concerned wants to end his/her life for reasons like long suffering, disease without any apparent cure and perhaps even in the situations where he/she feels that there is no hope of leading life to a personally acceptable level of dignity. Even if there is a faint hope of some likely medical developments in near future for a particular ailment, the benefits of such developments do not immediately percolate to a common-man - they take time to reach and become affordable. It is better to leave it to the judgment of the concerned individual and keep him/her informed of the factual situation by eminant people and social activists. There is no reason why such a person should be denied euthanasia as long as certain safeguards are taken in the interest of his kith and kin and the society. If someone wants to die under the legal provisions of euthanasia with an intention of emotionally blackmailing someone else or threaten the peace of the society (these days we hear about far too many such threats in the name of fake ‘hunger strikes’), it should not be allowed.
When it comes to brain-dead people or people who are in such medical situations, as in the news item mentioned above, there should be proper legal guidelines. Totally abandoned brain-dead life for 36 years is too long. Bombay has become Mumbai and Raj has virtually taken over from uncle. Things have changed beyond recognition. It is a longer sleep than the famed one of Rip Van Winkle. By the way, what happened to the culprit? Laws of Euthanasia need to be formulated carefully to ensure that there is no scope to commit legalised murders in the name of euthanasia. Every care should be taken to ensure that it is done in a fair manner and there should be no engineering from behind or political maneuvering.
