'Can right to die be denied when right to health isn’t honoured?’

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court silenced the opponents of passive euthanasia and ‘living will’ by asking if it would not be incongruous to stop a person from dying with dignity when governments had failed to honour the constitutional guarantee of right to health.
Drawing a link between right to die and right to health, Justice Sikri said, “Right to health is a part of Article 21 of the Constitution. At the same time, it is also a harsh reality that everybody is not able to enjoy that right because of poverty etc. The state is not in a position to translate into reality this right to health for all citizens. Thus, when citizens are not guaranteed the right to health, can they be denied right to die in dignity?”

Justice Sikri added, “It is undisputed that doctors’ primary duty is to provide treatment and save life but not in the case when a person has already expressed his desire of not being subjected to any kind of treatment. It is a common law right of people, of any civilised country, to refuse unwanted medical treatment and no person can force him/her to take any medical treatment which the person does not desire to continue with.”