After creating a passive euthanasia mechanism in 2018, the Supreme Court on Thursday said terminally ill patients in permanent vegetative state had a right to palliative care until their death and requested a comprehensive report from the Centre on its rollout in government hospitals.
The petitioner, senior counsel Jayna Kothari, requested that the SC declare palliative care a right to health under Art 21 (right to life).
CJI D Y Chandrachud and Justices J B Pardiwala & Manoj Misra ruled that right to health includes palliative care, hence a declaration is unnecessary.
Kothari said 14% of the global population received palliative care, but only 1-2% in India did. “There is no uniform provision of palliative care under the public health system in the country,” stated.
SC rejected euthanasia in 1996 Gian Kaur case and held it could only be legalized by Parliament. In 2011, SC granted passive euthanasia in Aruna Ramachandra Shanbaug case, but only after a jurisdictional high court confirmed a plea from relatives after a thorough medical board assessment.
In 2018, in the Common Cause case, a five-judge bench established ‘Advance Medical Directive’ guidelines that an adult of sound mind could utilize to remove life support if he becomes permanently vegetative without a possibility of recovery. This could only be done after various medical boards examined the terminally sick patient and concluded that sophisticated medical care would not save him.
In 2018, the SC bench, which included Justice Chandrachud, examined palliative care as a right to health without directing the government to create public health policy constraints.
After Kothari raised the unexplored field of palliative care in the public health system, the CJI-led bench issued notice to the Centre, though all states are parties to the PIL, and ordered a comprehensive report on giving terminally ill patients in government hospitals palliative care. He asked the court to incorporate palliative care in all health efforts, including AYUSH, saying, “Basic palliative care must be provided by all health professionalsas it’s an integral part of right to health.”
