Kashish Sharma
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Written By: Kashish Sharma | Published : January 17, 2023 10:21 PM IST
An argument has been raised that the ban on commercial surrogacy might be robbing the surrogates of their right over their bodies and deny them the opportunity to exercise their right to give birth.
The Supreme Court has said that the legislature should enact a law for terminally ill people who might want to end their medical treatment. This comes after four years of the court's landmark order on passive euthanasia in 2018. The apex court was hearing a plea seeking modifications under the 'Living Will' issued by it regarding the termination of medical assistance. The court decided to limit its role to modifying the existing guidelines while leaving the responsibility of reform to the legislature.
A five-judge constitution bench headed by Justice K.M. Joseph agreed to modify its 2018 guidelines on "living will", an advance medical directive on end-of-life treatment. The bench, also comprising Justices Ajay Rastogi, Aniruddha Bose, Hrishikesh Roy, and C. T. Ravikumar, said only guidelines can be tweaked otherwise it will become a review of its 2018 judgment.
The court said that it has limitations and can only exercise its role in modifying the existing guidelines.
In 2018, the apex court recognized that a person in a persistent vegetative state may execute an advance medical directive or a "living will" to refuse medical treatment. The advanced directive is only applicable to people who are terminally ill and not in a position to say that treatment must stop. The court was informed that the involvement of multiple stakeholders in the process has made it complex and unworkable. First, a medical expert has to declare that the patient has no scope of recovery, and then the District Collector has to set up an independent medical board to get a second opinion. The third step involves referring the matter to a judicial magistrate. The plea requested that the role of the district magistrate can be skipped and instead two witnesses could be introduced which will make the process less cumbersome. The court will hear the matter again on Wednesday.
A 'living will' is a legal document detailing the kind and level of medical care one might wish to have in circumstances where one might not be able to communicate. It usually addresses patients in life-threatening situations. It might involve decisions on advanced treatments like resuscitation, ventilation, and dialysis.
This can also deal with passive euthanasia where a person might wish to terminate medical treatment to smoothen death and avoid suffering.
