Editorial: Dignity in dying

CHENNAI: A recollection of the life and death of writer Ramon Sampedro popped up in the midst of Europe’s assisted dying debate in May this year. Sampedro, a Spanish seaman and writer had become a quadriplegic at the age of 25 (in 1968), following a diving accident. He ended up fighting for his right to assisted dying for the following 29 years, which culminated in an episode of suicide assisted by a confidante. Just three years ago, Spain approved a law permitting euthanasia, making it the fourth European Union country to do so. As of now, Belgium, Luxembourg and the Netherlands allow euthanasia under certain conditions. Certain states in Australia, as well as Canada have also legalised the process over the past few years.

Sampedro’s case is being remembered at a curious junction in our history. Earlier this month, Swiss prosecutors said that a right-to-die activist was released after more than two months in police custody over the reported first use of a so-called ‘suicide capsule,’ after they ruled out the possibility of an intentional homicide. Florian Willet, head of the advocacy group The Last Resort, was released by authorities in the northern Schaffhausen region, where a 64-year-old US woman in late September became the first user of the Sarco suicide capsule, a sealed chamber that releases nitrogen gas at the press of a button. The person falls unconscious and succumbs to suffocation in a few minutes.

Switzerland is among the few countries in the world where foreigners can travel to legally end their lives. The country boasts of a number of organisations that are dedicated to helping people end their lives with dignity. Swiss law permits assisted suicide as long as the person takes his or her life with no “external assistance” and those who help the person die do not do so for “any self-serving motive,” a government website says. However, unlike other countries, including the Netherlands, Switzerland does not permit euthanasia, which involves healthcare practitioners ending the lives of patients with a lethal injection at their request, and under specific circumstances.

Last month, in the UK, the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill 2024-25 (The Assisted Dying Law) was introduced to the British House of Commons. The draft law gives terminally ill adults in England and Wales, with less than six months to live, the right to die, once they have a request signed off by two doctors and a high court judge. The Bill has been passed, and is set for review by a Public Bill Committee which will suggest amendments and return the draft to the Parliament for the final sanction. The criticism around the law stems from the fact that it would be impossible to demarcate the boundaries limiting the right to assisted death. Apart from this, the elderly and the disabled might be compelled into choosing to end their lives to avoid becoming a burden on their caretakers.

India’s Supreme Court has also previously recognised a limited freedom to die, a right to both passive euthanasia, as well as making an advance medical directive, i.e. refusing medical treatment in the event of being incapacitated in the future. Needless to say, these are not easy conversations to be had, and it’s doubly harder to translate such humane requirements into the fine print that becomes legislation. It is based on the idea that living is a right, and not an obligation.