Supreme Court Agrees To Hear Plea On ‘Passive Euthanasia’ For Rabies Patients

New Delhi: Euthanasia, which is the direct administration of lethal substances to free oneself of endless pain and suffering, is not legal in India. Debate in this country mainly centres around the legality of ‘passive euthanasia’, which is permitted in specific circumstances for terminally ill patients.

On Monday, the Supreme Court agreed to hear a petition seeking passive euthanasia for rabies patients, challenging a 2019 Delhi High Court verdict.

All Creatures Great and Small, an NGO, had approached the Supreme Court against the High Court order of July 2019 that refused to direct the Centre and other authorities to treat rabies as an exceptional disease and offer patients the option of “death with dignity.”

The Supreme Court had issued a notice to the Centre and other parties in January 2020, seeking their responses to the 2019 petition.

A bench of Justices B R Gavai and K Vinod Chandran was informed on Monday by the petitioner’s counsel that the Centre had filed a counter affidavit in the matter before the Delhi High Court in 2018.

“We will have it after two weeks on a non-miscellaneous day,” the bench of the apex court said.

The NGO has sought that a procedure be established for rabies patients, allowing them or their guardians to opt for physician-assisted passive euthanasia.

In a landmark judgment on March 9, 2018, a five-judge Constitution bench of Supreme Court recognised the right to die as part of the right to life, legalising passive euthanasia and permitting the creation of a “living will” for terminally ill patients or those in a persistent vegetative state with no hope of recovery, ensuring a dignified exit by refusing medical treatment or life support.

Senior advocate Sonia Mathur and advocate Noor Rampal, representing the NGO, requested the Supreme Court to carve out an exception for rabies patients in its earlier judgement.

They argued that rabies has a near-100% fatality rate, and could be far more torturous and harrowing to endure than other ailments.

“These unique symptoms of rabies make it an exceptional case where the patients have to be tied and shackled to their beds, reducing their personal freedom, movement, dignity and integrity,” the plea stated, and urged the court to consider the “exceptional and violent nature of the disease” and the lack of a cure, classifying rabies as a separate category.