Activists cry foul over ‘passive euthanasia’ bill

"Passive euthanasia, facilitated by deliberately withdrawing medicines, is highly inhuman and can never be justified in a country like India"

August 22, 2016 02:33 am | Updated 07:33 am IST - Kozhikode:

Human rights activists in Kerala have formed a collective to launch a massive protest against the Union government’s move to pass a bill that indirectly supports passive euthanasia.

Leaders of the joint forum said in communication here on Sunday that they would organise a public convention in front of the Secretariat on August 29 and convince people on the hidden provisions in the proposed bill and the chances of the bill’s misuse.

“Passive euthanasia, facilitated by deliberately withdrawing medicines, is highly inhuman like any other form of mercy killing and can never be justified in a country like India,” said A.V. Vidhyadharan and Aneesh Prabhakar, conveners of the joint forum.

Primitive concept

They alleged that it was a primitive concept endorsing the survival of the fittest, rejecting even the basic idea of the Hippocratic Oath.

According to the leaders’ of the collective, the draft bill on ‘passive euthanasia’ titled ‘The Medical Treatment of Terminally Ill patients (Protection of Patients and Medical Practitioners) Bill, was a blatant threat against the citizens’ basic right to live.

“We want the State government to take a firm stance against the move with the support of human rights organisations and prevent doctors from being transformed to authorised killers,” they said.

0 / 0
Sign in to unlock member-only benefits!
  • Access 10 free stories every month
  • Save stories to read later
  • Access to comment on every story
  • Sign-up/manage your newsletter subscriptions with a single click
  • Get notified by email for early access to discounts & offers on our products
Sign in

Comments

Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.

We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of The Hindu and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.