This is a post written by RK Singh, Ex-Air Force Office who took premature retirement in 1993 and then helped in setting up several factories all over India. He is based at Noida and deeply into social service to help people in general who have legal issues or problems. He is a postgraduate in Physics from Allahabad University and Master’s in Defence Studies, Business Administration & environmental Sciences besides a Degree in Law. He has published 23 research papers and a number of articles.
The right to die with dignity, not to be confused with the nonexistent and punishable right to die, is an inescapable, undeniable and inseparable right along with the right to live with dignity under Article 21 of the constitution as a fundamental right as observed by the Supreme Court in a judgment. The court went ahead and laid down certain guidelines, requirements and procedures to be followed for the right to be exercised by a citizen by giving rise to the concept of Advance Deceleration or sometimes referred to as Living Will. Supreme Court has also specified that the procedure as laid down by the court is to be followed till states enact their own law and rules in this regard. This has gained more importance because of the high cost of medical treatment in case of a person being declared brain dead or suffering from life-threatening diseases. This has sometimes forced a person to either commit suicide or sell his land and even his house in order to afford the treatment. Sometimes even the surviving member has no house or money to survive as all the money has gone into the treatment.
Advance declaration or living will is a document prepared by a person in a healthy state of mind specifying that if he/she slides into the vegetative state because of an irreversible terminal illness then the deliberate existence should not be prolonged with the help of a life support system or other medical interventions. This will help the relatives/legal heirs the agonizing decision of removing life support and will not only spare them from tough decisions but also from the misinterpretation by others and also help them in cutting the high cost where a patient is allegedly kept alive by some hospital in order to make more money. The doctors are also benefited as they no longer have to make the Devil’s choice.
The process of making a living will is the same as that of normal will except that instead of assets and distribution the person needs to specify the medical conditions where this advance declaration will become applicable and life support systems or medical interventions can be withdrawn. The registration is not done at the registrar’s office but it is only countersigned by the Jurisdictional Judicial Magistrate First class (JMFC) and it will be his responsibility to keep it digital as well as in paper form and return a countersigned copy to the executor. However, the procedure for executing this living will, while the executor is in a vegetative state, is slightly complicated and lengthy as compared to a normal will and is to be done under the supervision and order of JMFC and the team of doctors as specified. They have the powers to certify that the person can be declared dead and all life support systems are withdrawn.
