EUTHANASIA: SHOULD IT BE BANNED OR NOT? – By Deepanshu Goyal

It is quite obvious that there is nothing in the world to which every man has a more unassailable title than to his own life and person.

– Arthur Schopenhauer on EUTHANASIA

This article on Euthanasia is written by Deepanshu Goyal. A hard-working 2nd-year student enrolled in an under-graduation course of Pharmacy at Maharishi Dayanand University.

Consider that you are sleeping really peacefully, prone on the mattress, right hand below the pillow… Are you able to facilitate yourself to that thought? That little happiness with a glare on the face? That peace and sleep and peaceful sleep is surely the apple of everybody’s eyes but not everyone’s cup of tea. Pain, Peccancy, agony, anxiety, sleep disorders, Regurgitation are just words that are not able to describe what someone feels or goes through in cases, when labeling them as being Rare or Common, doesn’t and cannot matter.

Staying Hypnagogic without sleep for days, or when even blinking is not easy for you when breathing almost kills you of pain, when laughing may break your bones, breathless attacks, when Thoughts needs to be restricted by syringe of paroxetine or snapping you of dreams by syringe of Galantamines.

I am thanking and pleading God at the same time now, Why? This is the obstinate situation itself. Thanks to the Hon’ble Supreme Court has listed the Right to Die with Dignity as a fundamental right, but that doesn’t just end here, Does it? Because the Euthanasia, legal in our very Country, is limited to only Passive Euthanasia, or just passively legalized system, like every other law hinged in the constitution, where one is just stripped off the life support system, whenever a patient slips to irreversible coma, to let him slip to an easy death… That obviously used to happen before legalization, when the poor used to face such strangling situation with denial of treatment beyond their pockets. The word “Passive” in the context is what has led me to plead the almighty too.

In the country which is totally open of medical tourism for 7.7 billion humans in this world, but too shy to add a necessary procedure to its fanny bag. If Active Euthanasia is somewhat the country is too hesitant to legalize, at least assisted death can be something that can be legalized to look for pros and cons which is now legal in so many countries in Europe and beyond including Netherlands, Canada, Luxembourg. The country that most of us blindly follow, The United States of America may too join this list as a few of its states has already or is about to legalize Euthanasia either completely or after a sub judice talk. Say, California, which is more developed and advanced than many countries has it totally legal.

What are we still waiting for, then? A world chock-a-block of every other country with permitted Assisted Death? Not to get me wrong here, but India has a hobby to play safely in almost all the circumstances that knock its door. It needs examples as proof just to be clear about the further extensions of problems anything may arise, before any expiation it does, even while being more idoneous than ever, which is a good thing according to me for some cases. But that too has a negative side as this hobby keeps India under umbra and let not to be prodigious and lead the world in any of the situations.

But I think we are asking too much from the country whose Constitution used to punish attempt to suicide in the earlier era even for Mental illness, but after the decades of colloquies and fights, it is SOMEWHAT a non-criminal offence now for the reason that persists in resonance to this law after the Mental Illness act being established, but who is to tell the regime and the judicial system that Life is not just the state of active breathing but way beyond lies its meaning to human soul and body? An Alienist?

There are way more serious diseases than just Mental Illness that are painful enough that uttering off just a little description is more than enough to give chills to the second person. Wait! Does that mean that we need more and more brevity of speech from cases like Aruna Shanbaug who was in a coma for 37 years and her case made Passive Euthanasia legal in the country or the couple Narayan and Lavate who has filed permission from the President of India for mercy killing in anxiety and worry for their health that may deteriorate in future, or Jeet Narayan who asked for Euthanasia for his 4 children, all paralyzed below the neck?

A case comes to light whenever the term Euthanasia is used in our Country… Gian Kaur who was sentenced to six years of Incarceration and fine of Rs. 2,000/- for abetting the suicide by Ms. Kulwant Kaur, maybe because she was not able to clarify her stance between her daughter-in-law and the need for Euthanasia.

We easily say RIP, Rest in Peace, to someone dead, but what in the name of peace, would a dead body do, if it did not receive the peaceful, easy and calm death that everybody deserves and most need for sure… At one place we ask the government to tighten the death penalty for a crime against women, electrocution, or even Deflagration for Sexual assault. They DESERVE such punishment, but what about those who are being tormented by their own fate for no reason, can’t we just let them die peacefully if we have no method on paper to let them live peacefully…

The nutshell speaks that we are in the modern era where we know so much about Science and Technology, Pathology and Aetiology, that we might be unknown to a few decades back, but still is unfair not to have a Properly legalized Euthanasia even though Good Killing, Mercy killing, Assisted suicide, Euthanasia was quite common in Ancient Greek, Jewish, Mesopotamian, Roman, and many other cultures in the past.

We KILL a rabid dog for the better of all others, but we do not let a human die peacefully for the better of him. This irony is biting me now.

For any Suggestion and Feedback feel free to write to us at: editor@legalthirst.com

Read More fromWriter Deepanshu Goyal: Legalizing Cannabis !!! A need or Just Hype?