Beyond The Exit: Harish Rana’s death must make India re-evaluate its fear of euthanasia

It took 13 years after Harish Rana went into a vegetative state for India to allow him to die. The passing away on March 24 after his feeding tube and support systems were removed is considered a milestone for euthanasia in the country. And yet, it is not enough. The overwhelming majority of human beings don’t get painless or peaceful deaths because they have no say in it. Civilisation is mostly interested in preventing death. It is structured against controlling it. Religion has a lot to do with this—if your life belongs to god, then you have no right to end it, goes one ar­gument. The corollary then being to accept your suffering because there are greater plans for you in the afterlife.

But the bigger reason India chooses not to make eutha­nasia more legitimate is the possibility of abuse. We don’t trust our institutions, and the minute euthanasia becomes more prevalent, people will manipulate it. Like getting a corrupt doctor to kill a relative to take over property. You can be fairly certain there will be such cases despite guardrails. That is still no reason not to give euthanasia more legal sanction. Such crimes, when they hap­pen, will shock the nation, and better safeguards will be instituted. Eventually, euthanasia will be as com­mon as it is in countries like the Netherlands or Switzerland.

But the first step is to stop being afraid to confront death and tiptoeing around it. Start a public discourse. For in­stance, others should not be taking decisions for the death of an Alzheimer’s patient who is physically able. But even such a person should have the option, when he is mentally functional, to decide whether he wants to continue life at the end stages of the disease. The Living Will, as such an intent is termed, exists in India but only on paper. Harish Rana’s case was black-and-white because, vegetative without hope of return, it wasn’t life as we perceive it. Even then, his anguished parents were hauled through the entire painstaking circuit of the judiciary to get their son a dignified death. He deserved it a decade ago. People should get to choose their own deaths.