Death tourism: Why Noida man wants to go to Switzerland for euthanasia?
New Delhi, Aug 13: A woman has approached the Delhi High Court seeking to stop her friend from traveling to Switzerland to undergo euthanasia on account of his debilitating inflammatory disease.
In her plea, the 49-year-old petitioner has sought a direction to the central government not to grant "emigration clearance" to her friend, in his late 40s and suffering from Myalgic Encephalomyelitis, who is supposed to travel for the physician-assisted suicide.
The petitioner has stated that her friend was earlier receiving treatment at AIIMS but the same could not continue during the pandemic due to "donor availability issues". The sick man is now planning to go to Switzerland for euthanasia, the practice of ending the life of a patient to limit the patient's suffering. The patient in question would typically be terminally ill or experiencing great pain and suffering. It is categorized in different ways, which include voluntary, non-voluntary, or involuntary. Voluntary euthanasia is legal in a growing number of countries. When the consent of the patient is not available, it is non-voluntary euthanasia which is illegal in all countries and is usually considered murder.
Right to die in dignity: What the laws in India say about euthanasia
Is
it
Legal
in
India?
Euthanasia
is
a
crime
in
India.
Section
309
of
the
Indian
Penal
Code
(IPC)
deals
with
the
attempt
to
commit
suicide
and
Section
306
of
the
IPC
deals
with
abetment
of
suicide
-
both
actions
are
punishable.
'Suicide
Tourism' to
Switzerland
People
across
the
world
come
to
Switzerland,
where
assisted
suicide
is
considered
a
legitimate
way
to
end
one's
life.
Hence,
it
has
earned
the
tag
'death
tourism'.
According to Dignitas, a well-known organisation that accepts non-Swiss applications, more than 90% of its members in 2018 were foreigners.
As per Swiss law, it does not consider suicide a crime or assisting suicide as complicity in a crime. However, it only views it as crime if the motive is selfish. Upon declaring assisted suicide, a police inquiry will begin like in all "unnatural death." Also, prosecution happens only if doubts are raised on the patient's competence to make an autonomous choice.
The application of these practices has become simplified over the years and societies for the right to die with dignity based on this principle have come into being.
According to EXIT, a democratically organised society under Swiss law, Suicide assistance may be rendered whenever the person wishing to die:
- knows what he or she is doing (faculty of judgement)
- does not act on impulse (due consideration)
- has a persistent wish to die (constancy)
- is not under the influence of any third party (autonomy)
- commits suicide by his or her own hand (agency)
- This means that even suicide assistance to young healthy people would technically be legal.
Like EXIT, there are a few other societies including Digintas that provide physician-assisted suicide to members with terminal illness or severe physical or mental illness.
The
countries
where
euthanasia
is
legal
The
Netherlands
was
the
first
country
to
decriminalize
voluntary
euthanasia
and
assisted
suicide
by
passing
a
law
in
2002.
Spain, Belgium, Luxembourg, Canada, Colombia, Germany, some US states and Australia are the other nations where voluntary euthanasia is legal.