MUMBAI: The Bombay High Court on Thursday disposed of a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) filed by gynaecologist Dr Nikhil Datar, seeking directions to implement a suitable mechanism for passive euthanasia and for speedy retrieval of living wills years after they had been made.
A living will, a legal document providing instructions for medical care in cases of incapacitation, was the focus of Dr Datar’s petition.
During the hearing on Thursday, government pleader Neha Bhide told the court that, according to Supreme Court guidelines, the procedure to make the document available via an online portal is underway. She said the Maharashtra government in March 2024 had appointed 417 custodians across municipal corporations and panchayats through a government resolution. She said the mechanism for quick retrieval of documents would be established within three months, as sought by Dr Datar.
A division bench of chief justice Alok Aradhe and justice MS Karnik directed the government to make the portal available to the public within a reasonable period, and disposed of the PIL after noticing substantial compliance with the Supreme Court directives.
Seeking full implementation of the mechanism, the petition sought to simplify the process for passive euthanasia by appointing custodians for living wills, setting up medical boards, and a change in the code of medical ethics. It further sought the digitisation of the process of retrieval of living wills, according to Supreme Court guidelines.
The guidelines state that a primary medical board shall be constituted to provide opinion, preferably within 48 hours of a case being referred to it. Following sanction of the opinion, the hospital shall constitute a secondary medical board to provide its opinion within 48 hours of the case being referred to it.
The government further submitted that a government resolution (GR), by which the primary medical board and secondary medical board have been constituted, has been issued.
Highlighting the shortcomings of the existing system, Dr Datar shared his personal experience of filing a living will. He pointed out that the custodian who received his document did so without clearly indicating their role as the custodian. Moreover, there was no serial number assigned to the document, and no effort had been made to confirm Dr Datar’s identity before accepting it. Further inquiries revealed that the custodian had received no instructions regarding the safekeeping of living wills and there was no mechanism for easy retrieval when needed.
Dr Datar’s criticism extended to the lack of publicity surrounding the mechanism. Of the 417 local bodies in Maharashtra, only a fraction claimed to have provided publicity in local newspapers regarding the appointment of custodians. Dr Datar argued that this level of publicity, amounting to only 3.3%, was insufficient to comply with the obligations outlined in the Supreme Court’s directive.
He noted that despite notarising his living will in February 2023 and sending a copy to the municipal commissioner, he received no response regarding the appointment of a custodian. Following this lack of communication, Dr Datar filed a query under the Right to Information Act, which similarly yielded unsatisfactory results.
Expressing his dissatisfaction with the government’s response, Dr. Datar approached the Bombay High Court, urging the appointment of custodians and advocating for increased awareness among the public, healthcare professionals and other stakeholders.