Present Status of Euthanasia in India From Medico-Legal Perspective an Update

Debate on Euthanasia has been raging for more than half century around the world and it continues to raise important questions in medical ethics, moral theology, civil rights and liberty. For the first time in India, there was a serious in-depth discussion about it in Supreme Court which finally endorsed Passive Euthanasia with its landmark judgment in Aruna Shanbaug case. It gave straightforward guidelines that are to be followed whenever such a scenario arises in India which will be law until parliament passes legislation in this regard. The Law Commission of India has proposed a bill in this direction which is yet to be passed by the parliament. The present article discusses all these in detail to understand this complicated issue.