Indian Supreme Court on Withdrawal of Life Support
posted by Frank Pasquale
There is a fascinating recent decision from the Indian Supreme Court on the Shanbaug case, regarding a woman who has been in a persistent vegetative state (PVS) for over 37 years. A petitioner who had written a book on Shanbaug argued for a withdrawal of life support. Shanbaug had no family to intervene, but hospital staff resisted, and the Court ultimately sided with them. While unflinchingly examining the dehumanizing aspects of PVS, the Court offers a remarkable affirmation of the good will of the staff who have taken care of Shanbaug:
[I]t is evident that the KEM Hospital staff right from the Dean, including the present Dean Dr. Sanjay Oak and down to the staff nurses and para-medical staff have been looking after Aruna for 38 years day and night. What they have done is simply marvelous. They feed Aruna, wash her, bathe her, cut her nails, and generally take care of her, and they have been doing this not on a few occasions but day and night, year after year. The whole country must learn the meaning of dedication and sacrifice from the KEM hospital staff. In 38 years Aruna has not developed one bed sore. It is thus obvious that the KEM hospital staff has developed an emotional bonding and attachment to Aruna Shanbaug, and in a sense they are her real family today.
After a scholarly survey of many countries and U.S. states’ laws on withdrawal of life support, the Court concludes:
A decision has to be taken to discontinue life support either by the parents or the spouse or other close relatives, or in the absence of any of them, such a decision can be taken even by a person or a body of persons acting as a next friend. It can also be taken by the doctors attending the patient. However, the decision should be taken bona fide in the best interest of the patient. . . .
In our opinion, if we leave it solely to the patient’s relatives or to the doctors or next friend to decide whether to withdraw the life support of an incompetent person there is always a risk in our country that this may be misused by some unscrupulous persons who wish to inherit or otherwise grab the property of the patient. Considering the low ethical levels prevailing in our society today and the rampant commercialization and corruption, we cannot rule out the possibility that unscrupulous persons with the help of some unscrupulous doctors may fabricate material to show that it is a terminal case with no chance of recovery. There are doctors and doctors.
While many doctors are upright, there are others who can do anything for money (see George Bernard Shaw’s play ‘The Doctors Dilemma’). The commercialization of our society has crossed all limits. Hence we have to guard against the potential of misuse (see Robin Cook’s novel ‘Coma’). In our opinion, while giving great weight to the wishes of the parents, spouse, or other close relatives or next friend of the incompetent patient and also giving due weight to the opinion of the attending doctors, we cannot leave it entirely to their discretion whether to discontinue the life support or not. We agree with the decision of the Lord Keith in Airedale’s case (supra) that the approval of the High Court should be taken in this connection. This is in the interest of the protection of the patient, protection of the doctors, relative and next friend, and for reassurance of the patient’s family as well as the public. This is also in consonance with the doctrine of parens patriae which is a well known principle of law.
I am no expert in this area of law, but I thought the Court’s opinion very interesting and worth recommending as a survey of global views on the topic and a careful consideration of a particular case.
March 7, 2011 at 9:45 am
Posted in: Bioethics, Health Law
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Responses (3)
Kim - March 7, 2011 at 1:45 pm
WOW, completely amazing the kind of loving care she got for over 38 years. What a tough question, as “from this side of the fence”, I would much rather have life support pulled. Interesting presentation of the other side, you rarely hear about. I agree, very interesting and thanks for posting.
Confused #L - March 9, 2011 at 8:41 am
I’m slightly disappointed that the court failed to mention Ian McEwan’s Amsterdam in its review of literature, it would have been so perfectly on point when discussing the role of friends in end of life decisions.
Frank - March 9, 2011 at 12:13 pm
For Confused…I too have mixed feelings about the literary references. I am in favor of law & humanities scholarship, and I think poetry & literature can tell us “what always happens,” as opposed to history’s account of “what happens.”
But I am aware of Richard Epstein’s approach in the collection “On 1984: Orwell and our Future,” where he is said to “maintain[] that the normative messages in Orwell’s fiction were based too heavily on Orwell’s idiosyncratic, and thus unprepresentative, experiences” (5).
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