Indian Supreme Court rejects plea for mercy killing of nurse
(March 10, 2011) The Supreme Court of India has rejected the plea for mercy killing
for a nurse who has been in a semi-comatose condition for 37 years. However, the court
set out guidelines for passive euthanasia -- "withholding of medical treatment for
continuance of life, e.g. withholding of antibiotics where without giving it a patient
is likely to die or removing the heart lung machine, from a patient in coma" -- and
said passive euthanasia would now become law until Parliament enacts legislation to
deal with the issue. The ruling came March 7 in a petition on behalf of 63-year-old
Aruna Shanbaug, who has been in a persistent vegetative state since 1973 in King Edward
Memorial Hospital in Mumbai. She slipped into that state after being deprived of oxygen
during an assault at the same hospital. While delivering the judgment, the court congratulated
the hospital and its staff for the "loving care" extended to the nurse. As the news
of the court ruling was announced, hospital staff gathered to celebrate. Cardinal
Oswald Gracias of Mumbai, president of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of India,
said that the church is happy and relieved that the court has rejected this mercy
killing plea. The cardinal said he was disappointed by the part of the verdict allowing
passive euthanasia, since "allowing one to die amounts to actively supporting taking
away one's life."