[Right_to_die] India Supreme Court orders investigation into woman 'brain dead' since l973

[World right-to-die news list (nonprofit)]

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BBC News reported 24 Jan 10:

India doctors to examine 'euthanasia' woman

India's Supreme Court has directed three doctors to examine the medical 
condition of a woman who has been in a vegetative state since 1973.

The court is hearing a plea to end the life of Aruna Shanbaug, a nurse 
in Mumbai who has been paralysed and considered "brain-dead" since she 
was attacked by a rapist in November 1973.

The plea has been made by a journalist who has written a book on Ms 
Shanbaug.

The court will examine if the plea is "akin to euthanasia".

It is being seen as a landmark case in India where euthanasia or mercy 
killing is illegal.

The court asked the doctors to submit a report on Ms Shanbaug's medical 
condition after examining her, and fixed 22 February as the next day of 
hearing.

Ms Shanbaug is force fed by nurses looking after her twice a day at the 
KEM hospital in Mumbai.

In her petition journalist Pinki Virani has said that Ms Shanbaug has 
been in a "persistent vegetative state" for 36 years and is "virtually a 
dead person".

Ms Virani wants the court to issue instructions to "forthwith ensure 
that no food is fed" to Ms Shanbaug.

But hospital authorities have told the court that Ms Shanbaug "accepts 
food in normal course and responds by facial expressions" and responds 
to "commands intermittently by making sounds".
Euthanasia debate

The Supreme Court said on Monday that "euthanasia is one of the most 
perplexing issues which the courts and legislatures all over the world 
are facing today".

"The court, in this case, is facing the same issue, and we like a ship 
in an unchartered sea, seeking some guidance by the light thrown by the 
legislation and judicial precedents in foreign countries", it said.

Ms Shanbaug was raped by a hospital sweeper at the KEM hospital on 27 
November 1973. The sweeper tried to strangle her.

The petition says that she suffered "brain stem contusion injuries with 
associated cervical cord injury and due to this she was reduced to 
almost a vegetable".

Her attacker was sentenced to seven years in prison for attempting to 
murder and rob Ms Shanbaug.

This is not the first time that a mercy killing demand has gone to the 
courts.

In 2004, a terminally-ill Indian chess champion became a focus of a 
euthanasia debate before he died in a hospital.

Venkatesh, 25, was suffering from a genetic neurological disorder and 
was on life-support for more than seven months.

Both the hospital authorities and the Andhra Pradesh high court refused 
his request to turn off his life support system, saying that would 
amount to an illegal mercy killing.

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