Karnataka allows dignified death for terminally ill patients

Bengaluru: In a significant move, the Karnataka Health Department on Friday issued a directive to implement the Supreme Court's directive, enabling terminally ill patients to die with dignity.

State Health Minister Dinesh Gundu Rao announced that the department has issued “a historic order” to implement the Supreme Court’s 2023 directive.

Taking to the social media post 'X', he stated that the department has also come out with an Advance Medical Directive (AMD), or a living will, in which a patient can record their wishes about their medical treatment in the future.

According to the PTI report, he said, "My Karnataka Health Department, @DHFWKA, passes a historic order to implement the Supreme Court's directive for a patients Right to Die with dignity."

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The minister said this will immensely benefit those who are terminally ill with no hope of recovery, or are in a persistent vegetative state, and where the patient no longer benefits from life-sustaining treatment.

"We have also come out with an Advance Medical Directive (AMD), or a living will, in which a patient can record their wishes about their medical treatment in the future," he said.

This important step, according to the minister, will bring great relief and a dignified sense of closure to many families and individuals, reports PTI.

"Karnataka is a progressive state and we are always at the forefront in upholding liberal and equitable values for a more and just society," he added.

Medical Dialogues had earlier reported that the Constitution bench of the Supreme Court modified the slew of directions regarding advance medical directives or living wills issued in its 2018 judgment, where the legal validity of passive euthanasia had been upheld. While considering an application by the Indian Council for Critical Care Medicine, which argued that the 2018 guidelines had become virtually unenforceable because of the complexity of the procedure, a Constitution Bench comprising Justices K.M. Joseph, Ajay Rastogi, Aniruddha Bose, Hrishikesh Roy, and C.T. Ravikumar passed the modification order on January 24, 2023.

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