Another appeal for mercy killing in Chittoor

Parents of Madanapalle girl say she is suffering from rare neurological problem

Chinna Reddappa and Sunitha with their daughter Sruthi Hasan at Madanapalle court on Wednesday.

A young couple of Pulaguravaripalle of Kurabalakota mandal, 150 km from here, on Wednesday approached the II Additional District Judge court at Madanapalle, with an appeal to grant euthanasia for their six-year-old daughter, suffering from a rare neurological problem since three years. The court turned down the application.

Chinna Reddappa (30) and Suneetha (26), who work as labourers in cloth weaving units in the mandal. have two daughters, and a son.

Three years ago, the eldest child, Sruthi Hasan (6) developed hard lumps around her neck, which gradually crippled her movements, coupled with unbearable pain. Dropped out of nursery school, the child since then is confined to her mother's arms or bed.

The couple took the girl to a dozen government and private hospitals in Madanpalle, Bengaluru, Vellore, Chennai and Tirupati. This year, she underwent some surgeries at Sri Venkateswara Institute of Medical Sciences and was diagnosed with a malignant neurological disorder. Three months ago, the girl again developed lumps around her neck, and her left leg and arm went out of action, and she could not lift her head.

Speaking to The Hindu , Mr. Reddappa said that he had run into debts and mortgaged or sold his wife's jewellery to meet the expenditure for the girl’s treatment. “Now, we do not even have money to purchase pain killers. The girl would bitterly cry of pain. Its a big trauma in our family. What else can we do except watch our child cry and cry in pain? At last, we thought it fit to get her permission for mercy killing,” he said.

The father said he knew nothing about euthanasia. During the last six years, half a dozen families approached the courts in Madanapalle and Tamballapalle of the division, appealing for mercy killing to their members, mostly those with terminal illness.

Last year, Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu responded to a case of a month-old child Gnanasai of Mulakalacheruvu mandal, when her parents approached the court for mercy killing for the child, who suffered liver damage. The government bore the expenses for the child’s treatment at a corporate hospital in Chennai. All these factors had influenced the helpless couple, whose sole objective is to see the girl survives or help end her agony.

“As the court had rejected our appeal for mercy killing to the child, only the government or donors can rescue her,” he said.