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Euthanasia- Dying with Dignity: the Last Right?

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Euthanasia- Dying with Dignity: the Last Right? Vol 5 Issue 6 Dec 2015 ISSN No :2231-5063 InternationaORIGINALl M ARTICLEultidisciplinary Research Journal Golden Research Thoughts Chief Editor Dr.Tukaram Narayan Shinde Associate Editor Publisher Dr.Rajani Dalvi Mrs.Laxmi Ashok Yakkaldevi Honorary Mr.Ashok Yakkaldevi Welcome to GRT RNI MAHMUL/2011/38595 ISSN No.2231-5063 Golden Research Thoughts Journal is a multidisciplinary research journal, published monthly in English, Hindi & Marathi Language. All research papers submitted to the journal will be double - blind peer reviewed referred by members of the editorial board.Readers will include investigator in universities, research institutes government and industry with research interest in the general subjects. International Advisory Board Kamani Perera Mohammad Hailat Hasan Baktir Regional Center For Strategic Studies, Sri Dept. of Mathematical Sciences, English Language and Literature Lanka University of South Carolina Aiken Department, Kayseri Janaki Sinnasamy Abdullah Sabbagh Ghayoor Abbas Chotana Librarian, University of Malaya Engineering Studies, Sydney Dept of Chemistry, Lahore University of Management Sciences[PK] Romona Mihaila Ecaterina Patrascu Spiru Haret University, Romania Spiru Haret University, Bucharest Anna Maria Constantinovici AL. I. Cuza University, Romania Delia Serbescu Loredana Bosca Spiru Haret University, Bucharest, Spiru Haret University, Romania Ilie Pintea, Romania Spiru Haret University, Romania Fabricio Moraes de Almeida Anurag Misra Federal University of Rondonia, Brazil Xiaohua Yang DBS College, Kanpur PhD, USA George - Calin SERITAN Titus PopPhD, Partium Christian Faculty of Philosophy and Socio-Political ......More University, Oradea,Romania Sciences Al. I. Cuza University, Iasi Editorial Board Pratap Vyamktrao Naikwade Iresh Swami Rajendra Shendge ASP College Devrukh,Ratnagiri,MS India Ex - VC. Solapur University, Solapur Director, B.C.U.D. Solapur University, Solapur R. R. Patil N.S. Dhaygude Head Geology Department Solapur Ex. Prin. Dayanand College, Solapur R. R. Yalikar University,Solapur Director Managment Institute, Solapur Narendra Kadu Rama Bhosale Jt. Director Higher Education, Pune Umesh Rajderkar Prin. and Jt. Director Higher Education, Head Humanities & Social Science Panvel K. M. Bhandarkar YCMOU,Nashik Praful Patel College of Education, Gondia Salve R. N. S. R. Pandya Department of Sociology, Shivaji Sonal Singh Head Education Dept. Mumbai University, University,Kolhapur Vikram University, Ujjain Mumbai Govind P. Shinde G. P. Patankar Alka Darshan Shrivastava Bharati Vidyapeeth School of Distance S. D. M. Degree College, Honavar, Karnataka Shaskiya Snatkottar Mahavidyalaya, Dhar Education Center, Navi Mumbai Maj. S. Bakhtiar Choudhary Rahul Shriram Sudke Chakane Sanjay Dnyaneshwar Director,Hyderabad AP India. Devi Ahilya Vishwavidyalaya, Indore Arts, Science & Commerce College, Indapur, Pune S.Parvathi Devi S.KANNAN Ph.D.-University of Allahabad Annamalai University,TN Awadhesh Kumar Shirotriya Secretary,Play India Play,Meerut(U.P.) Sonal Singh, Satish Kumar Kalhotra Vikram University, Ujjain Maulana Azad National Urdu University Address:-Ashok Yakkaldevi 258/34, Raviwar Peth, Solapur - 413 005 Maharashtra, India Cell : 9595 359 435, Ph No: 02172372010 Email: [email protected] Website: www.aygrt.isrj.org ISSN: 2231-5063 Impact Factor : 3.4052(UIF) Volume - 5 | Issue - 6 | Dec - 2015 GRT Golden Research Thoughts EUTHANASIA- DYING WITH DIGNITY: THE LAST RIGHT? Anuradha K. Girme Assistant Professor , Bharathi Vidyapeth New Law College, Pune. ABSTRACT whether right to die is included in Euthanasia which is known as mercy right to life and whether attempt to killing or assisted suicide, is usually c o m m i t s u i c i d e s h o u l d b e practised on a terminally ill-person. criminalised or not. But in India euthanasia is not legalised like other countries for KEYWORDS :Euthanasia, Right to life example: Belgium, Luxembourg, and Right to Die . Switzerland and Netherlands. The question which arises for the first INTRODUCTION time in India for consideration is The word Euthanasia was first Anuradha K. Girme originated by an English philosopher Sir Francis Bacon in 17th century which literally means “good death”. It is the practice of ending life of a person in a painless way. The term euthanasia comes from the greek words ‘eu’ means god, and ‘thanatos’ means death, also known as mercy killing or assisted suicide, it is usually practiced on a terminally ill person. As India has no law about euthanasia, the Supreme Courts guidelines are law until and unless parliament passes legislation. This practise of mercy killing may be legal or illegal depending upon a countries jurisdiction. For example, it is legal in countries like Belgium, Norway, Swedan, and Albania under the condition that the patient is suffering from chronic pain along with an incurable disease. In United States, euthanasia is illegal; whatever may be the condition of the patient . Euthanasia is against nature, humanism, religion, and compassion, constitutional, legal as well as Hippocrates Oath. It is based on self-determination of an individual’s freedom of choice whether to live or die with dignity. In India Euthanasia should be legalized under certain set of parameters only after studying all aspects of individual’s condition mental, physical, family, medical as well as legal and social aspect of euthanasia. Thus euthanasia is one Available online at www.lsrj.in 1 EUTHANASIA- DYING WITH DIGNITY: THE LAST RIGHT? of the biggest issues faced by the world which lacks clarity. HISTORY OF EUTHANASIA “I will give no deadly medicine to any one if asked, nor suggest any such counsel” Hippocrates, Father of Modern Medicine (400 BC) . Indian history : - In Indian ancient civilization, voluntary death was accepted. The Mahabharata refers to the Pandavas and Draupadi giving up their kingdom and embarking on mahaprasthana (the great departure) to meet death. The notion of Kashi yatra and mahaprasthana must be understood in this sense and the concepts of Samadhi and nirvana too form part of the heritage of Indian thinking. Manusmriti says: - “When a householder sees he’s wrinkled and grey, and when he sees the children of his children, he should take himself to the wilderness. The householder should set out in a north- easterly direction and walk straight ahead, diligently engaged in consuming nothing but water and air, until the body collapses”. In modern times, the most well-known example is of freedom fighter and spiritual teacher Acharya Vinoba Bhave who, when he fell ill in 1982, decided to end his life and refused to accept any food or medicine during his last days. He starved himself and died on November 15, 1982. Among Shwetambara Jains voluntary death by giving up food and drink and then allowing themselves to die peacefully is considered highly meritorious. There have been several instances of Jains resorting to this practice known as santhara or sallekhana. Gandhi and Euthanasia (Article When Bapu backed mercy killing) A calf in Gandhi’s Sabarmati ashram was maimed and in agony, surgeons had said it was beyond help. It was killed to be put out of misery. This triggered a controversy with the Mahatma received many angry letters. He expressed his views on the matter in the Gujarati weekly Navjivan in October 1928. “In the circumstances, I felt that humanity demanded that the agony should be ended by ending life itself. The matter was placed before the whole ashram. Finally, in all humility but with the cleanest of convictions I got in my presence a doctor to administer the calf a quietus by means of a poison injection, and the whole thing was over in less than two minutes. “Would I apply to human beings the principle I’ve enunciated in connection with the calf? Would I like it to be applied in my own case? My reply is yes. Just as a surgeon doesn’t commit himsa when he wields his knife on his patient’s body for the latter’s benefit, similarly one may find it necessary under certain imperative circumstances to go a step further and sever life from the body in the interest of the sufferer”. World History on Euthanasia:-The ancient Greeks and Roman civilization accepted the practice of euthanasia, around 5th century B.C. They did this by abortions and everynow and then preformed mercy killing; as they say that there is no need to preserve the life of a person who had no interest in living or who think life as a burden even though doctors were suppose to follow the Hippocratic Oath. During the middle Ages, euthanasia was pretty much out of the question. If one committed suicide, the law in Europe was for the body to be “dragged through the streets or nailed to a barrel and left to drift downriver”. The first law against assisted killing known as anti-euthanasia was passed in New York, in 1828 where according to the English jurisdiction suicide or helping people to kill themselves were considered as a criminal act and mercy killing was not supported by ascendancy of Christianity from12th to 15th Available online at www.lsrj.in 2 EUTHANASIA- DYING WITH DIGNITY: THE LAST RIGHT? century. In 1890 Sir Samuel Williams proposed to use anaesthetic and morphine to intentionally put an end to a patient’s life. This gave rise to a debate on mercy killing in USA in 1890’s. The most significant event occurred in1906 with the introduction of Ohio Bill in US to legalize euthanasia, which was ultimately defeated . The German physicans for the first time in 1940 practiced non-voluntary euthanasia to eliminate the diseased and disabled germans in closed gas chambers, their main purpose was to get rid of handicapped children and people with psychiatric problems. Three hundred germans were estimated to be killed by Nazis germans in 1945. The first group for legalization of euthanasia was called (VELS) i.e Voluntary euthanasia legislation society, founded in 1935 by group of doctors in London. A similar organization, known as National Society for the legalization of euthanasia (NSLE) came into existence in1938.
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