THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Listing the parameters and the threshold values at which ‘passive euthanasia’ and ‘living will’ can be implemented in the state, a five-member committee headed by Pallium India chairman Dr. M R Rajagopal tabled a report with the government on Monday.
As per sources, the committee - which differs with using the term ‘passive euthanasia’ citing a ‘negative connotation’ - also lists out a unique proposal to constitute a panel of 25 doctors in each district to process requests of ‘living will’.
“The report has been prepared after considering the apex court’s judgment and the Indian Council of Medical Research’s (ICMR) report on the definition of terms used in limitation of treatment and providing palliative care at the end of life,” said Rajagopal.
It is learnt the committee, quoting from the ICMR report released in March, has stated the usage of the term ‘passive euthanasia’ is ‘misleading’ and said the procedure should rather be called as ‘withholding or withdrawing futile treatment’.
“The committee, while considering the ICMR report, agrees the very usage of ‘passive euthanasia’ itself is incorrect as it carries the meaning of intention to kill. Thus we recommend the state government to use either withholding or withdrawing futile treatment. We came to know ICMR is highlighting the same might approach to the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare,” said a member.
The other key recommendation of the committee is the constitution of a doctors’ panel at the district-level to process ‘living will’, and requests the government to direct the respective District Medical Officers to constitute the panel in advance as ‘when the need arises, time will not be wasted for finding the doctors’. The ‘living will’ acts as a medical power of attorney that allows an individual to appoint a trusted person to make healthcare decisions when he/she is unable to take such decisions.
According to the Supreme Court, the will can be executed only by an adult in a healthy state of mind. As per the judgment, the ‘living will’ has to be signed by the executor in the presence of two attesting witnesses, preferably independent, and has to be counter-signed by the jurisdictional Judicial Magistrate of First Class (JMFC) so designated by the district judge concerned.
Committee formed after flurry of requests
On April 25, the state government had constituted the five-member committee after the Health Department was flooded with requests and queries regarding ‘passive euthanasia’ and ‘living will’ following the Supreme Court’s 538-page judgment on the same. Other than Rajagopal, the committee comprises retired district judge Varghese M Mathews, Dr Narendra Nath - former HOD, gastroenterology, Thiruvananthapuram Government Medical College, Dr U Nandakumar - visiting professor, Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Sree Chitra Tirunal Institute for Medical Sciences and Technology (SCTIMST), and Dr Eshwar - neurologist, SCTIMST.